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TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................. ii

ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................................................................... iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................. v

I. BACKGROUND AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Project Context ............................................................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Project Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 2

II. EVALUATION OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 6

2.1 Evaluation Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 6

2.2 Methodology and Sampling ..................................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Limitations ..................................................................................................................................................... 9

III. EVALUATION FINDINGS ...................................................................................................................................... 10

3.1 Project Design and Relevance ............................................................................................................. 10

3.2 Efficacy of the Linkage to Harlem Children’s Zone Project ..................................................... 14

3.3 Effectiveness and Implementation .................................................................................................... 18

3.4 Monitoring System and Sustainability ............................................................................................. 32

IV. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................................... 38

V. LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES ................................................................................................ 40

5.1 Lessons Learned ....................................................................................................................................... 40

5.2 Good Practices ........................................................................................................................................... 41

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 42

6.1 Key Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 42

6.2 Other Recommendations for the PP Project ................................................................................. 43

ANNEXES

ANNEX 1: Quantitative Overview of Project Progress ................................................................................... 44

ANNEX 2: Evaluation Itinerary ................................................................................................................................ 47

ANNEX 3: List of Stakeholders Interviewed ....................................................................................................... 48

ANNEX 4: Project Partners and Activities ........................................................................................................... 49

ANNEX 5: List of Documents Reviewed ............................................................................................................... 51

ANNEX 6: Evaluation Terms of Reference .......................................................................................................... 52

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to all individuals involved in the evaluation in Morocco for their support, flexibility and cooperation during the field visit interviews, including beneficiaries, teachers, stakeholders, and staff members of government agencies. In addition, I would like to thank the Creative project management team and all of the field office staff for their flexibility, planning and preparation. Their logistical support and organization of field visits contributed to the final evaluation. I would also like to thank the staff in the Government of Morocco’s Office of Non-formal Education (DENF) for sharing their opinions and suggestions, and to all stakeholders whose insights and perceptions helped me to finalize this evaluation report.

Finally, I would like to give special thanks to all beneficiaries, particularly the children and their parents, for their willingness to share their experiences and tell their stories.

Aziza Chbani

This report describes in detail the interim evaluation of the Morocco Promise Pathways (PP) project, conducted in March 2016. The report was prepared under a contract with Sistemas Familia y Sociedad (SFS), according to agreements specified in its contract with the US Department of Labor (USDOL), Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT). The evaluation of the PP project was conducted and documented by Aziza Chbani, an independent evaluator in collaboration with SFS, USDOL/OCFT staff, the PP project team, and stakeholders in Morocco.

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ACRONYMS

ALEF Advancing Learning and Employability for Better Future Project ANAPEC Agence Nationale de Promotion de l’Emploi et des Compétences (National

Agency for Employment and Skills Promotion) AREF Académie Régionale d’Education et de Formation (Regional of Academy

Education and Training) ATA Aid to Artisans CL Child Labor CMEP Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan COP Chief of Party CSO Civil Society Organization DBMS Direct Beneficiary Monitoring System DENF Office of Non-formal Education DTQ Dar Taliba de Qualité EN The Government of Morocco’s Entraide Nationale FGD Focus Group Discussion GOM Government of Morocco HCL Hazardous Child Labor HCZ Harlem Children’s Zone Project HH Household HQ Headquarters Office IGA Income Generating Activity IIECL International Initiative to End Child Labor ILO International Labour Organization INDH The Government of Morocco’s National Initiative for Human Development IO Intermediate Objective ITQANE Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education Project JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency LD The Government of Morocco’s Labor Department (National and Regional) M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MEN Ministère de l’Education Nationale (Ministry of National Education) MOESA The Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs MNEFP The Moroccan Ministry of National Education and Professional Training MTDS Morocco Trade and Development Services NGO Non-governmental Organization OCFT USDOL Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking OFPPT Office de la Formation Professionnelle et de la Promotion du Travail (Office of

Vocational Training and Labor Promotion) PAVE Pathways to Advancing Viable Alternatives to Education and Employment PP Promise Pathways PRLMA Participatory Rural Labor Market Assessment SFS Sistemas, Familia y Sociedad – Consultores Asociados TOR Terms of Reference TPR Technical Progress Report

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UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USAID United States Agency for International Development USDOL United States Department of Labor

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Description

The Promise Pathways: Reducing Child Labor through Viable Paths in Education and Decent Work (PP) project, which is funded by the US Department of Labor (USDOL) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking (OCFT) and implemented by Creative Associates International (Creative) and its partners, aims to reduce child labor in Morocco. It is a four-year project which began on December 31, 2013 with funding of US$5 million from USDOL. An interim evaluation was conducted by an external evaluator in March 2016 and this report documents the results.

The PP project was developed, in part, to respond to the protections for children guaranteed in Morocco’s new Constitution, which was adopted in 2012. At the time the Government of Morocco (GOM) put several new policies into place including the National Childhood Action Plan, which promotes the strengthening of child protection measures against all forms of violence, including hazardous labor.

The main objective of the PP project is to reduce the incidence of child labor among children and youth 6 - 17 years old in target districts and sectors in the Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz region. The project aims to increase access to education for 5,500 children and youth (ages 6 to 17 years) and provide livelihood and other social services to 1,000 siblings, parents and care-givers age 18 years and above in the Marrakech-Tensift-Al-Haouz region.

The Promise Pathways project’s overall strategy for reducing child labor in Morocco is to increase community and family resilience and responsiveness. Promise Pathways builds upon existing assets, including youth, to target vulnerable children and their families. To reduce household dependency on child labor for subsistence, PP works with vulnerable youth to create pathways to decent work and provide vocational training that is oriented to the job market, as well as increase awareness regarding workplace hazards and ways to protect youth. The project likewise works with vulnerable households to improve their access to social protection services and improve their livelihoods. The Creative team works with government and civil society to develop positive pathways to education and legal employment for children and students tailored to their specific needs and different situations of vulnerability and exploitation. Beneficiaries access pathways using customized road maps to reach their goals. Support and interventions are “wrapped around” the needs of the family, which is a critical piece for each pathway.

Evaluation Objectives and Methodology

As per USDOL Management Procedure Guidelines, OCFT-funded projects are subject to external interim and final evaluations. The interim evaluation assesses and evaluates the projects implementation for the first two years, providing insight on what aspects are effective and determining whether the project is on track toward reaching its goals and objectives.

This evaluation employed a qualitative methodology, using a combination of observation, focus groups, semi-structured and informal interviews, to understand project activities and stakeholders’ relationships with the project. A total of 328 interviews were carried out (with

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180 female and 148 male interviewees), either as individual interviews or in focus groups. The evaluator observed utmost confidentiality related to sensitive information and feedback elicited during the individual and group interviews (see Annex 2: Evaluation Schedule).

Following the field visit (see Annex 3: List of Stakeholders), a stakeholder meeting was conducted to present the major preliminary findings and emerging issues, solicit recommendations, and obtain clarification or additional information.

Evaluation Findings

Project Design and Relevance

USDOL released funding for this project in response to the Government of Morocco’s request for support to address hazardous child labor. Prior to starting the project, USDOL collaborated with national partners to identify the community needs and expectations of the Moroccan government. The project design and its corresponding theory of change are, according to most interviewees, largely appropriate and adequate as they respond to the needs in Morocco and address the concerns of the national stakeholders and their strategy in the fight against child labor. As a means to fight against poverty and decrease child labor, it is still early to measure the project’s immediate effects on the income and living standards of beneficiaries. It has, however, generated optimism and a will to create change in the lives of the beneficiaries.

The Promise Pathways project relied on two components to achieve its objectives:

• Education (or training) for children 6 - 17 years old; and

• Access to livelihoods for families.

The PP project was modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) project. This is a linkage model, where beneficiaries are referred to services provided by other organizations in the project areas in order to meet diverse needs. The strength of this project is its link to agencies, public administration and civil society in addressing the needs of children. This creates a more well-rounded and social dynamic that will help vulnerable families out of poverty. The services offered by the organizations in the referral networks, including the Ministry of Labor, Entraide Nationale [EN], Ministry of National Education and other institutions (National Initiative for Human Development [INDH], Al Amana, craft rooms, Chambers of Agriculture, etc.) are aligned with the goals of the project, and the PP project directs its beneficiaries to those services to form a coherent system of support around each beneficiary.

There is an overwhelming need for social services in the project areas, including education, because the project is operating in extremely vulnerable, poor communities with high school drop-out rates. There are more children 6-17 years old meeting the eligibility criteria than can be included within the project targets which were agreed upon with USDOL. Some targeted provinces do not provide sufficient social services to which the project can refer beneficiaries; for example, no public services are available in Ichmraren for the project to refer beneficiaries, which is an important issue for a project that is based on a referral model.

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Implementation and Effectiveness

The project provides services for children between 6-14 years old who are living in the targeted areas and who are working and/or not attending school. Children considered to be at risk of entering child labor are also included, such as when they have a sibling who dropped out of school to go to work. Beneficiary selection was done according to the Pathways to Advancing Viable Alternatives to Education and Employment (PAVE) methodology where the PP team works with local authorities, school associations and provincial sector representatives to select a list of potential beneficiaries. This list is finalized after conducting home visits to beneficiary families and collecting extensive information to decide on eligibility (using the intake form). In addition, the household survey and the Participatory Rural Labor Market Appraisal (PRLMA) have informed the project on potential beneficiaries.

To date, Creative has met its midterm beneficiary target goals; however, the services have not always been of high quality. According to project staff, the PP is an ambitious project with a small budget and a limited number of human resources. While some project activities began in January 2014 (such as the establishment of the project team, moving to Marrakech, making contact and preparing for the basic survey, identifying investigators, working on the beneficiary tracking software), the project did not receive the Government of Morocco’s signature on the tripartite agreement until February 2014, which resulted in significant delays as many project activities could not begin until after it was signed. Education activities were also affected by the departure of the Education Specialist, who was not replaced until September 2015.

Originally, the project planned to work with three large nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), but two of the three dropped out due to disagreements over the budget and focus of the project. As a result, PP had to replace them with an array of smaller community associations in order to implement the planned project services. In effect, the project is working with twenty local associations, which allows them to reach remote areas and to provide local services, but this provides challenges with regard to coordination.

As part of its education component, the project reintegrates children 6 - 14 years old who dropped out of school back into formal or non-formal education, and develops the skills and employability for those who are 15 - 17 years old. The project also mobilized and made education actors accountable regarding the monitoring of each student. The facilitation of school clubs and extracurricular activities is ongoing and the project is preparing activities in this direction.

Child labor reinforces educational disadvantages and exclusion among beneficiaries, and the project’s education support activities aimed to make the right to education meaningful for these students of special needs. The project supported institutions that can advocate toward these goals and linked with stakeholders in order to provide a set of services that are as comprehensive as possible in light of the operational context. It invited education actors, often with divergent views, such as associations, government ministries, to informational and purposeful debates.

Transport and accommodation are often highlighted as the main cause of school dropouts among boys under age 14 and for girls of all ages. Household beneficiaries interviewed during the evaluation fieldwork mentioned that without transportation they do not allow their children

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(mainly girls) to attend school. Other parents mentioned the need for both transportation and accommodation. The PP works towards giving them places in Dar Talib or Dar Taliba, which provide accommodation near middle schools and high schools for students who travel in from other villages. While some parents do not trust the safety of these accommodations, the project is working in collaboration with EN and the Mohammed VI Foundation to make the Dar Taliba an attractive venue for learning, tutoring and psychological support and to encourage parents to send their children, especially their daughters.

As part of the implementation of the livelihoods component, the PP project established structures to help poor families gain access to employment opportunities, income generation activities, health services and administrative help and improving household income is an objective of the PP. To achieve this endeavor, the project promised to analyze the possibilities of creating income generating activities (IGA) or cooperatives for parents of beneficiaries. It has also promised training for adults to improve their job skills. Those adults in need of increasing production or generating income were given information on employment opportunities or self-employment, referred to support services (vocational training, microfinance, etc.), and provided support in the administrative formalities needed to access such services. The quality of training provided by the PP project is a significant asset in the labor market. PP is working to ensure that the vocational training modules and materials are available at the end of the project.

Promise Pathways also works with vulnerable youth beneficiaries to create pathways to decent work and provide vocational training that is oriented to the job market. However, the proposed youth vocational training is not always geared toward a job opportunity and not always of the desired quality for it to serve as a springboard for the development of employability.

Monitoring System and Sustainability

The number of beneficiaries enrolled has been compared with monitoring data on its beneficiary population collected by PP for the most recent Technical Progress Report (TPR) from October 2015, and the data were largely in agreement. However according to the staff responsible for the project’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E), there are quite a large number of indicators in the CMEP and it has been difficult to manage all of the required data collection without additional staff support. The management of beneficiaries requires a significantly larger amount of time and human resources than what was allocated by the project.

The project is implementing a Direct Beneficiary Monitoring System (DBMS), which integrates the same information contained in the Moroccan Government’s “Massar” system as well as additional data related to families. The Massar system is a computer program, released in June 2013, which facilitates school management and operations by tracking student data. Linking the DBMS and the Massar system will save time for the project and would allow the government to use the system for purposes beyond its current use.

According to the project, since the time of the evaluation fieldwork, PP has taken measures to strengthen the sustainability of the project activities. However, PP has not identified who will take over the responsibilities for implementing aspects of the project in the future as part of the sustainability measures. During the second half of implementation, the project should strengthen their sustainability plan.

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Conclusions

In conclusion, despite some continued challenges, especially at the level of sustainability, most respondents agree that this is a relevant project with effective strategies and a relevant theory of change. The main result of the project to date is that many children have returned to school or vocational training, and many parents are aware of and work toward keeping their children in educational activities and out of child labor. The PP project meets the needs of the Moroccan government and its policies in the fight against child labor. It has led to a growing understanding of child labor in the project implementation areas; for example, the Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs (MOESA) will be defining some especially hazardous work tasks in agriculture based on the findings of the PP project. It has also instilled hope among the youth for training so that they can acquire vocational skills and improve their livelihood situation in the years to come.

The project faces two remaining challenges. First, while the project may reach their projected targets, the results may not demonstrate the level of quality expected (e.g. research, an adaptation of modules and training on these modules). A project extension may help the PP project to achieve the desired quality of activities. Secondly, the project must address and manage the expectations of beneficiaries who wish to have accommodations, transport, income improvement, and access to the labor market before the end of the project; it is beyond the PP project capacity to provide this for every beneficiary.

During the second half of implementation, the project should ensure that the key partners are able to sustain their activities. Creative should reposition and disengage gradually from operations and move toward a strategic position, letting national and regional institutions conduct activities by themselves. Most partners estimated a need for continuous support over time to sustain the satisfactory results of the project. The project is able to have a leading status in the communities due to the specificity of its focus on child labor and ability to consolidate local expertise. This will allow for better sustainability of the project at the local level.

Recommendations

The evaluation provides nine core recommendations to improve effectiveness and sustainability during the remaining period of implementation.

A. Recommendations for the PP project team

1. Review project targets and determine which planned activities can be feasibly conducted with a satisfactory level of quality in the current implementation context, in order to make up for the initial project delays. Focus more on the zones where the PP project could provide better services.

2. Recalibrate the budget in view of a changing implementation environment and identify needs of project beneficiaries and stakeholders. Focus on the zones with more potential to succeed and on child beneficiaries. Allow the Education and Livelihoods Specialists to view the budget figures in order to facilitate planning.

3. Continue looking into supporting the sustainability of the DBMS by integrating it with the Massar system, to ensure that partners and stakeholders continue reporting on child labor after the discontinuation of project services.

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4. Review the direct monitoring of beneficiaries. It may be useful to see whether it is possible to better monitor the work that beneficiaries are doing outside school hours (including during holidays), to ensure that they are not involved in exploitive child labor.

5. Establish a National Steering Committee, which would meet every four months. Since multiple sectors are related to child labor issues, it is recommended that this committee be proposed by the project, which would seek approval from the stakeholders and develop committee procedures.

6. Continue developing the project’s sustainability plan and risk management plans. This includes consolidating and institutionalizing the various trainings for case managers, development agents and social workers in order to support the sustainability of the project model. They are willing to sustain the model and are learning from trainings and field experience.

7. Renegotiate the agreement with Al Karam. Al Karam has good resource people and useful tools for the project, and this partnership is not being used to its optimal potential. While it is understaffed at the moment, the staff persons still have all the skills to sustain the entire process of the project on a small scale. They can later train others in partnership with the GOM. Al Karam can also assist the project with troubleshooting challenges, as they are accustomed to working within the constraints of the Moroccan context.

8. Enhance the visibility and influence of the PP project by creating a website to use as a tool for communicating about the project and the network of referral services. This would facilitate coordination between stakeholders working on relevant issues and the access to referral networks for other poor non-beneficiaries who could benefit from similar services.

B. Recommendations for USDOL

9. Explore the possibility of an extension and additional budget in order to provide project support until the end of the third school year (i.e. to the end of 2018).

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I. BACKGROUND AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION

1.1 Project Context

With support from international donors, the Government of Morocco (GOM) has been working to improve the status of children by designing sectorial and cross-cutting policies to promote children’s circumstances. Hence, this means raising the age for admission to employment, prohibiting the occupation of children in the worst forms of employment and regulating work conditions. The minimum age for work and the compulsory age of education are both 15 years, and the minimum age for hazardous work or voluntary military service is 18 years. The Labor Code allows children under age 15 to perform certain types of agricultural work, and children between 16 – 17 years old to perform agricultural work at night. The GOM has ratified all key international conventions concerning child labor, such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions 138 and 182 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has also established laws and regulations related to child labor, including its worst forms. However, local stakeholders and the ILO Committee of Experts report that the fine amounts set forth in the labor code for companies that employ children in hazardous work are inadequate and do not act as an effective deterrent.

According to a report released to the public in June 2015 by the High Commissioner for Planning, Morocco has made progress in the fight against child labor with children 7-15 years old. However, there is a lack of credible official figures to quantify the phenomenon of child labor and reflect its various forms. Political and social considerations that accompany this phenomenon tend to urge the concerned entities to underestimate the number of children engaged in the labor market. In this case, the number of out-of-school children may be a close estimation for the child labor figures, if one operates on the assumption that children who are not in school are potentially susceptible to working (with or without pay) for their family or an employer.

Enrollment and retention in Moroccan formal schooling is difficult in the Moroccan context, particularly in rural areas where distance to school strongly impacts the enrollment of girls. Poor quality at the high school level (including boarding schools, Dar Talibas,1 etc.) contributes to early school drop-out rates and can sometimes also act as a barrier in accessing primary school. In addition to the high level of poverty among families in the rural areas, it is difficult to prevent parents from sending their children to work.

Non-formal education in Morocco aims to facilitate the inclusion of young people between 6 and 15 years old back into the educational system. Registration or re-registration directly into an academic institution is a key to preventing children from dropping out of school, and is part of the Child to Child approach and educational programs run by the Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs (MOESA). This mission is accomplished in partnership with

1 Dar Talibas are boarding houses located near middle and high schools, which generally provide free accommodation and food for boys or girls who come from communities where a high school is not available.

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associations that provide remedial training and support for beneficiaries to reintegrate into formal school or second chance school.

1.2 Project Overview

On December 23, 2013, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking (OCFT) signed an agreement worth US$4,998,430 with Creative Associates International (Creative) to implement the project called Promise Pathways: Reducing Child Labor through Viable Paths in Education and Decent Work (PP). Creative named the project Promise Pathways to reflect the intention of placing children who are engaged in or at risk of child labor in Morocco on “pathways” to quality education and youth employment. The purpose of the Cooperative Agreement is to support efforts to reduce child labor and assist youth of legal working age to secure decent work and provide household members (age 18 and older) with opportunities for improved livelihoods in rural and peri-urban areas of Morocco. The project also works to improve the capacity of Morocco’s labor inspectorate to monitor and enforce labor laws in rural agricultural areas where many children and youth work, and strengthen the ability of civil society organizations to reduce child labor through service provision and advocacy.

The PP project aims to fight against school dropout, improve the quality of learning, develop vocational training, and improve the school environment, safety, and stakeholder relationships. PP uses a local model, focused on beneficiaries and the building of supportive environments with community participation and stakeholder support from the provinces and regions. The pilot areas are Marrakech (the region with the second leading child labor rate) and Safi.

The project is conducted in close collaboration with the Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs (MOESA), the Ministry of National Education and Professional Training, the Department of Non-formal Education (DENF) and the Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development. The PP project was developed, in part, to respond to protections for children guaranteed in Morocco’s new Constitution adopted in 2012. At the time, the GOM put several new policies into place including the National Childhood Action Plan, which promotes the strengthening of child protection measures against all forms of violence, including hazardous labor.

In response to the problem analysis identified in the Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (CMEP), Creative Associates’ team strategy for reducing child labor in Morocco is to increase community and family resilience and responsiveness. Promise Pathways is designed to nurture the development of a community-led environment that builds upon existing assets, including youth, to target vulnerable children and their families. At its core, a collaborative community-based network of organizations ensures that children remain on the pathway away from child labor and into education and decent work.

Among the six provinces of Marrakech region, the project focused on Marrakech, Al Haouz and Chichaoua. The project was originally going to include Essaouira, but submitted a project revision request to USDOL to eliminate this region. This request will not have an effect on the number of targeted beneficiaries. Communes include:

• In Marrakech: Marrakech Médina and Sidi Youssef Ben Ali

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• In Al Haouz: Ourika, Siti Fadma, Tighadouine, Tidili and Zerkten

• In Chichaoua: Imintanout/Nfifa/Oued El Bour, Lalla Aziza, Kouzemt/Timlilt/Ichemraren

The main project objective of Promise Pathways is to reduce the incidence of child labor among children and youth 6–17 years old in target districts and sectors in the Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz region. The project targets the withdrawal of 823 children (ages 6–14 years) from working in farm labor, industry and services and the prevention of 3,294 at-risk children from becoming engaged in such work. It also aims to withdraw 283 and prevent 1,133 youth (ages 15–17 years) from engaging in hazardous labor. It is estimated that these children and youth will come from 1,016 households and the parents of these households are targeted for livelihood services in order to provide a comprehensive approach in the family.

Together with USDOL and other national partners, Promise Pathways has identified three main intermediate objectives (IO) that constitute the cornerstones of the project’s theory of change:

IO 1: Increased participation in quality education among children engaged in or at risk of child labor;

IO 2: Decreased dependence on child labor for livelihoods in target households; and

IO 3: Contribution of institutional environment to the elimination of child labor is improved.

Through a school-based approach to improving the quality of education services, Promise Pathways implements child labor and school dropout prevention activities that are driven by beneficiaries and communities. Promise Pathways prevents school dropout and child labor by creating pathways to viable education and employment that are in synergy with school and educational quality improvement strategies. IO 1 will be achieved by supporting improved access and retention of children in educational programs, through integrated support programs to facilitate the transition of at risk-students from primary to middle school. The project also promotes safe and respectful learning environments in target schools through capacity building activities for community and school leaders, and works to strengthen the capacity of the non-formal educational system to address children engaged in or at risk of child labor.

To reduce household dependency on child labor for subsistence, Promise Pathways works with vulnerable youth to create pathways to decent work, provides vocational training that is oriented to the job market, and increases awareness regarding workplace hazards and ways to protect youth. The project likewise works with vulnerable households to improve their access to social protection services and improve their livelihoods. To achieve IO 2, the project increases the access of youth to a diversified job market by supporting their access to apprenticeship programs, and improves the availability of data regarding the job market and economic opportunities through mapping exercises. Promise Pathways also seeks to improve access of target households to social protection programs by connecting them to social services. Finally, the project works to increase income among target households by improving their access to income-generating activities, markets, training programs, and other activities that may affect their income and livelihoods.

Promise Pathways also contributes to improving the effectiveness of actions taken by government agencies and civil society organizations by facilitating networking, synergy and

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collaboration in service provision as well as by improving their capacity to address child labor. In order to achieve IO 3, the project seeks to improve the capacity of relevant government agencies, including labor inspectors, child protection services, and school watch committees in target zones, in order to contribute to the elimination of child labor. The project also increases the capacity of civil society organizations (CSO) in advocacy and service provision, by providing training for local CSOs and integrated awareness, communication and outreach campaigns for target communities.

Below is the Promise Pathways Results Framework, which depicts the critical assumptions, three intermediate objectives, and supporting objectives (SO).

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Figure 1: Promise Pathways Results Framework with Indicators

Project Objective: Reduction of child labor (children and youth 6–17 years old) in target districts and zones in Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz

Indicators: CL and School Attendance at Household Level: POH.1 % of beneficiary households (HH) with at least one child engaged in child labor; POH.2 % of beneficiary HH with at least one child engaged in hazardous labor (HCL); POH.3 % of beneficiary HH with all children of compulsory school age (6–15) attending school regularly Children’s Labor Status-Related: POC.1 % of project beneficiary children engaged in CL (per sex & age); POC.2 % of project beneficiary children engaged in HCL (per sex & age)

IO 1 Increased participation in quality education among children engaged in or at risk of child labor

Supporting Results: SO 1.1 Improved access and retention of children in education programs

Indicators: OTC 1 Percentage of target at-risk students retained in school OTC 2 Percentage of target dropout children reintegrated in formal schooling

SO 1.2 Improved quality of education services Indicators:

OTC 3 Completion rate of 6th grade in target schools OTC 4 Completion rate of target children in project-supported non-formal education programs OTC 5 Percentage of target children that regularly attended any form of education during the past six (6) months, with 75% attendance in their education program over the six month reporting period

IO 2 Decreased dependence on child labor for livelihoods in target households

Supporting Results: SO 2.1 Increased access of youth (15–17 years old) to a diversified job market

Indicator: OTC 6 Percentage of target youth (15–17 years old) who secure a job or start an independent income generating activity as a result of project services

SO 2.2 Improved access of target households to social projection programs Indicator:

OTC 7 Percentage of target households covered by at least one social program as a result of project services

SO 2.3 Increased income among target households Indicator:

OTC 8 Percentage of target households reporting an increase in assets as a result of project services

IO 3 Contribution of Institutional environment to the elimination of CL is improved

Supporting Results: SO 3.1 Improved capacity of relevant government agencies in target zones to contribute to the elimination of child labor

Indicator: OTC 9.Number of targeted government institutions in target zones that carry out specific actions to eliminate CL

SO 3.2 Increased capacity of civil society organizations in advocacy and service provision regarding child labor Indicator:

OTC 10.Number of target children that receive services offered by targeted CSOs

Critical Assumptions • Political situation in Morocco remains stable • Migration rate from rural sector remains stable • Government investment in labor inspection, education and

social welfare programs remains at current levels • Morocco’s economic environment is positive and favors the development of small businesses

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II. EVALUATION OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

2.1 Evaluation Objectives

As per USDOL Management Procedure Guidelines, OCFT-funded projects are subject to external interim and final evaluations. This interim evaluation assessed and evaluated the project’s implementation for the first two years, providing insight on what aspects are effective and determining whether the project is on track towards meeting its goals and objectives.

The evaluation addressed the following main objectives:

1. Assess the relevance of the project’s theory of change, as stated in the Promise Pathways CMEP, to the issue of child labor in Morocco and discuss whether activities are being implemented in accordance with the project design.

2. Evaluate the project’s progress made so far and whether it is likely to complete all activities and results as delineated in the project document. Analyze the factors that may be contributing to successes and challenges. Assess what is happening on the ground and if necessary, make recommendations to ensure the project will meet the agreed-upon outcomes, goals and timeline.

3. Described the results of the project by the date of the evaluation, at institutional and community level, and especially on the lives of beneficiary households and children.

4. Assessed the steps taken by the project to mainstream project activities and recommend actions to increase sustainability before project phase-out.

Specific Terms of Reference (TOR) questions provided by USDOL that the interim evaluation sought to answer are as follows:

1. What facilitating factors and barriers did the project confront regarding implementing the project baseline and starting beneficiary enrollment? What mitigating strategies did the project use in addressing these barriers?

2. Are the proposed activities appropriate for the beneficiaries given the results of the baseline assessment?

The PP Project was modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone project. This is a linkage model, where beneficiaries are linked to services provided by other organizations in the project areas in order to address a diversity of needs. Some of these questions hope to evaluate the efficacy of this model in Morocco.

3. What is the reality of this linkage model in Morocco? Please describe how this works in the PP project.

4. How has PP handled the replication of the Harlem Children’s Model? Has PP been able to adapt this model to the Moroccan environment?

5. What is the efficacy of this model in Morocco?

6. How is PP working with the schools in the project? What is the nature of PP’s relationship with the schools?

7. What education support do the PP beneficiaries receive from the project?

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8. How are children being connected to educational services? At what point are children added to the database as child beneficiaries?

9. Please describe how PP is providing livelihood services.

10. What is the value added from linking households to livelihood services?

11. Two organizations that were originally to be working with PP are not. How has PP made up for this loss? Are they effectively working with new Moroccan organizations?

12. Please conduct small sample of data verification between the numbers the project has reported in TPRs and the data collected through their CMEP indicators.

13. Is the project following the monitoring procedures as described in their CMEP documents?

14. What is the nature of the project’s relationship with local civil society and government partners? Have these partners’ commitment to combatting child labor increased as a result of project efforts?

These TOR questions are addressed in Section III of this document, and are classified into four subsections, including: (1) Project Design and Relevance which addresses TOR questions 1–2; (2) Efficacy of the Linkage to Harlem Children’s Zone Project which covers questions 3–5; (3) Effectiveness and Implementation which addresses questions 6–10; and finally (4) Monitoring System and Sustainability which answers questions 11–14.

2.2 Methodology and Sampling The evaluator was responsible for developing the evaluation data collection methodology in consultation with Sistemas, Familias y Sociedad (SFS). Before beginning fieldwork, the evaluator created a data collection matrix which outlined the source of data for each TOR question.

The evaluation fieldwork was qualitative and participatory in nature. Quantitative data was drawn from project documents including the CMEP, Technical Progress Reports (TPRs) and other reports to the extent that it is available. Qualitative information was obtained through field visits, interviews and focus group discussions (FGD), depending on what was most appropriate. Opinions coming from beneficiaries (teachers, parents and children) improved and clarified the use of quantitative analysis. The participatory nature of the evaluation contributed to the sense of ownership among beneficiaries.

Given the diversity of sites and profiles of beneficiaries, the evaluator used multiple information sources and methodological tools. Data collection via different survey techniques helped triangulate results and thus ensures greater reliability. Interviews were semi structured according to a guide, based on specific questions, and left a degree of freedom of expression in order to allow the expression of comment and unexpected views. The interviews were recorded with the agreement of the interviewees. One member of the project staff accompanied the evaluator to make introductions. This person was not present in the meetings or interviews with key informants.

During the two-week fieldwork, the evaluator visited the three provinces in which the project operates: Marrakech, Al Haouz and Chichaoua. This included the following municipalities: Siti

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Fadma and Ourika (province of Al Haouz), Ichmraren, Imintanout and Laaziza (Province of Chichaoua); Sidi Youssef Ben Ali and Medina (Marrakech). The evaluator spent approximately three days in each province. One day was used for interviews with local officials and implementation counterparts, and/or visiting other institutions as suggested by the project or official staff.

Within each province, the evaluator visited an education intervention site (primary and secondary schools, vocational training sites, apprenticeship centers, and primary teacher’s colleges) and conducted focus group discussions with children, youth and parents in two towns per province. The data collection tools were applied in 60 semi-structured interviews and 33 focus groups (for a total 268 people). Besides interviewing project staff and national stakeholders at the central level, the evaluator conducted focus groups with beneficiaries, parents, teachers, educational coordinators and managers and heads of departments. The evaluation included about 5-10% of the total number of target children in the first cohort. The population of the qualitative interviews and focus group discussions consisted of the following elements:

• Students 6 - 14 years old (6 FGD with boys, 6 FGD with girls);

• Youth 15 - 17 years old (4 FGD with boys, 5 FGD with girls);

• Parents (5 with fathers and 6 with mothers); and

• The coordinators of case managers.

For information on the distribution between the FGD participants see Table 2 below. Since cultural norms do not allow mixed gender FGDs, separate discussions were organized with young people (both in and out of school), with parents and community members.

Table 2: Overview of Interview/Focus Group Categories

Category of Interviewees Chichaoua Al Haouz Regional/ Marrakech National Total

Communes 3 2 2 7 Households (parents) 30 min interview (= 2h 30) early in the morning, and 30 min for focus group before to leave

30 (10 per commune)

20 (10 per commune)

20 (10 per commune) 70

Associations involved in NFE 1 1 1 3 NFE teachers 3 3 1 7 School teachers 3 3 6 Labors inspectors 1 1 2 Protection coordination structures 1 1 School watch committees 3 2 2 7 Civil society organizations 2 2 1 1 6 Working children engaged in or at high risk of entering child labor 6- 14 years old Boys and girls

32 (16 per commune)

32 (16 per commune)

32 (16 per commune) 96

Working children engaged in or at high risk of entering child labor

32 (16 per commune)

32 (16 per commune)

32 (16 per commune) 104

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Category of Interviewees Chichaoua Al Haouz Regional/ Marrakech National Total

15 – 17-year-old Boys and girls + group of 8 girls

Aid to Artisans 1 1 Direction of Non-formal Education 3 2 5 Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs 3 4 7

Ministry of National Education and Professional Training 2 1 3 6

Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development 2 2 2 2 8

National Initiative for Human Development 1 1

Total 121 100 106 10 337

2.3 Limitations The fieldwork for the evaluation lasted about two weeks and the evaluator did not have enough time to visit all of the project sites. All efforts were made to ensure that a sufficient number of sites were visited to obtain a good understanding of project performance. A cost-efficiency analysis is not included because it would require impact data, which was not available.

This external evaluation was commissioned by USDOL in order to assess the project’s progress and improve its positioning over the next two years. The PP project is in the process of readjusting its framework to achieve its goals. Taking into account past activities, this external evaluation proposes institutional and organizational adjustments, strategies and action programs.

It has been observed during data collection at the various project sites that most of the 2014 - 2016 PP interventions have been conducted recently. Some procedures were still ongoing during the evaluation period. This implies that the optimal amount of time needed for the evaluation participants to provide an objective appraisal of the activities was not always available. In addition, some effects of the project have been documented only from trends and perceptions (for example, the integration of youth graduates into the labor market).

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III. EVALUATION FINDINGS The interim evaluation report is organized around the fourteen questions from the evaluation Terms of Reference (see Section 2.1), which are subdivided into four sections: (1) Project Design and Relevance; (2) Efficacy of the Linkage to Harlem Children’s Zone Project; (3) Effectiveness and Implementation; and (4) Monitoring System and Sustainability.

Halfway through the life of the project, the evaluator estimates that PP is on track to meet its targets and objectives.

3.1 Project Design and Relevance

As stated in the CMEP, the project provided the following interventions for children engaged in or at risk of child labor: formal or non-formal education for children 6-14 years old; skills training for youth 15-17 years old; and facilitating access to administrative and health services for families. The activities of the Promise Pathways project are generally aligned with the major issues related to child labor:

• The activities are aligned with those of the Office of Non-formal Education (DENF), the second chance schools, the re-schooling of children and the implementation of the watch units in schools.

• The manager of the Moroccan Labor Department (at the central level) thinks that the project objectives align precisely with their goal to remove young people from work and offer them and their parents an alternative.

The PP project is consistent with the national strategy to fight against child labor. According to Creative’s backstop in Washington, DC, Creative is supporting GOM-mandated regional decentralization efforts, including those related to education. However, while the project complemented the programs of other national and international donors when it began, since the launch of the project Morocco has enacted a new strategy in education (the Education Vision 2015-2030). At the time of the evaluation, the project aligned with Component 1, 3 and 7 of the Vision, but there were other areas where the project had not adapted its activities to be in line with the new vision, such as combining education and training for employability in the middle school curriculum.

The project’s objectives and good practices, as well as their tools in some cases, also complement the objectives of other international entities addressing child labor issues. For example, the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) mission is concerned with child labor; the European Union has provided budget support for non-formal education with monitoring indicators; and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in the fight against poverty and supports the GOM’s National Initiative for Human Development (INDH).

Considering that 10% of the PP operating budget is allocated for overhead costs (US$ 500,000) and 3% is for monitoring and evaluation (US$ 150,000), spending per beneficiary is roughly US$ 623 per child (based on a budget of US$ 5 million which covers 6,976 beneficiaries, as reported in Creative’s presentation from March 28, 2016). This seems that it could be high compared with other organizations, but without a detailed budget it is not possible to provide further analysis. For the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO)

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literacy project, the standard budget is US$ 120 per beneficiary per year. In the Compact program funded by Millennium Challenge Corporation, some NGOs provided youth vocational training for US$ 200 per person to improve their employability and to find their first job within six months. It is important to consider that there are a very large number of partners and a breadth of activities and services provided by the PP project.

Question 1a: What facilitating factors and barriers did the project confront regarding implementing the project baseline and starting beneficiary enrollment? What mitigating strategies did the project use in addressing these barriers?

During the first year, the project experienced some implementation delays. Project partners participated in a planning workshop in March 2014, and other information workshops were held at provincial levels. However, the project did not receive the Government of Morocco’s signature on the tripartite agreement until February 2015, and the Wali (high regional authority of the Ministry of Interior) put all project interventions on hold until the agreement was signed. While some project activities began in January 2014 (such as the establishment of the project team, moving to Marrakech, making contact and preparing for the basic survey, identifying investigators, working on the beneficiary tracking software), this resulted in significant delays as many project activities could not begin until after it was signed. The long agreement process resulted in shortening the duration of the PP project implementation.

There were also delays in the baseline survey during the first year that occurred due to negotiations between Creative and three national ministries, regarding permission for Creative to conduct households and school-based surveys at the regional level. This caused the project to lose time and the schedule of activities is being adjusted accordingly. The baseline study took place in March 2015 and consisted of four surveys and studies, which also served as an introduction to the PP project for some data enumerators who later became case managers. The final report was ready in August 2015.

Originally, the project planned to work with three national NGOs and expected to implement activities in Rabat. However, as described in response to Question 11 (page 30), two of the three organizations decided not to work with the project due to disagreements about the budget and the focus of the project. In order to overcome this challenge, the project engaged with social workers and enlisted the support of a large number of smaller community organizations, which allows them to provide locally-based services and reach remote areas.

The project also remained without an Education Specialist during important months of this school year (September to December 2015). Some activities went on hold until a new Education Specialist was hired, but the project did work on enrolling children in school. During that time the M&E Officer worked with the Education case managers to implement further stages of the Pathways to Advancing Viable Alternatives to Education and Employment (PAVE) methodology with beneficiaries. He also worked with federated local associations in the schools in project zones to start awareness activities and to provide support services for PP children who had dropped out or were at risk of dropping out of school. He facilitated these activities while also managing the project’s M&E tasks.

Several officials that were posted during 2014 have also changed, such as the Regional Academy Education and Training (AREF) Director, the Director of Labor, as well as the contact at the US

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Embassy. This caused the project team to have to re-explain the project to the new officials, and some stakeholders took a lot of time before taking action.

The project also planned to collaborate with Marrakech University with the aim of identifying solutions for children in the Moroccan context, which was inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) model. This collaboration would have included introducing research on child labor-related themes into the University schools and working with the graduate researchers on child labor case studies, research papers and additional data collection. However, the project was unable to come to an agreement with the University of Marrakech and the Education Specialist is exploring the feasibility of partnering with another University. The project is currently making an effort to collaborate with University Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech.

During the first year of the project, the Chief of Party (COP) and technical team identified and convened an array of stakeholders to discuss coordination and building on best practices, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UNICEF, the Office of Vocational Training and Labor Promotion (OFPPT), the Moroccan National Agency for Employment and Skills Promotion (ANAPEC), the Ministries of Employment, Education, Agriculture, Tourism and Handicrafts as well as the ILO, Entraide Nationale (EN), OCP, the Belgium Cooperation and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Table 8 of Creative’s final proposal, completed in May 2014, shows the program initiatives that the project will be using if needed. This should have been a strategy to address obstacles experienced during implementation, but according to the Project Director it was not followed until April 2016. This was due to the fact that the agreement with the GOM was not signed until August 2015, which delayed the start of some project activities, as well as the lack of an Education Specialist.

The project used the following strategies to address the challenges identified above:

• The project selected the best enumerators from the baseline study to become case managers. This allowed the project team to complete the hiring process quickly and begin project activities. The choice of case managers also solved solves a major problem of proximity to remote areas, as they lived near the beneficiaries and were able to work with them daily to determine the best course of action as necessary.

• The PP project worked with several cohorts at the same time to make up for the lost time caused by the initial delays. Therefore, activities could not be done with the desired quality according to the project team.

• Some case managers are non-formal education facilitators and they could offer tutoring activities. The partnership with local associations, especially those of Dar Talibas, helped in starting tutoring activities.

• The newly recruited Education Specialist has developed a contingency plan to overcome the obstacles faced in the education component.

• Following the evaluation fieldwork, a meeting was held with Morocco Trade and Development Services (MTDS), the contractor developing the Direct Beneficiary Monitoring System (DBMS), to address the issues faced by the monitoring application.

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Question 2: Are the proposed activities appropriate for the beneficiaries, given the results of the baseline assessment?

Based on the conclusions of the baseline study, information on the education and work status of youth in the target areas shows that there is a strong relationship between early school dropout and early child labor. For boys, this often means seeking small agricultural jobs or migrating to cities to work in construction or service jobs. For girls, this means working at home, doing domestic chores, helping with farm tasks and “waiting to get married.”

The project used research as both a baseline and as an instrument to guide activities. The research provided information about the target population and about approaches to integrate the various pathways offered by the project. Thus, it will generate new knowledge about child labor as well as useful tools for decision-making. However, this has been planned but not yet implemented. The baseline findings have been disseminated locally and at the provincial level, and the project plans to hold an event with their main partners at the central level to disseminate the baseline data and highlight information on the project’s achievements so far. The Ministry of Education plans to work closely with the project to facilitate the event and invite leadership, such as the Minister.

While the project sought to take the baseline study report into account in order to reflect the realities on the ground, it seems that PP did not follow the baseline study recommendations. For example, the first recommendation in the baseline study report was for the project to customize beneficiary support based on regional differences through activities such as supporting access to adult literacy services, providing tailored messages about school persistence, and training/coordinating service providers to be sensitive to the limited reading skills among heads of households. Yet the project has not established agreements with partner organizations to provide classes in literacy for parents, even though this is funded by the Moroccan government.

Furthermore, the baseline report identified a high dropout rate among children in grades 5-7, especially in rural areas where it was 20-22% as compared to 9% in urban areas. Creative aimed to address the high dropout rates at the critical transition period between primary to secondary school by emphasizing project activities at Grade 6 and providing drop-out classes for students at the primary level. During Creative's experience with USAID’s Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education Project (ITQANE), this transition between primary and secondary school was found to reflect the highest rate of dropouts. However, the project has not currently focused on grades 5 and 7 even though it is in the project document, and their strategy does not preclude activities for students in these grades.

According to the baseline report, access to target populations is difficult in Ichmraren and no public services useful for the PP project are available in this geographic area. This makes implementing the project model quite difficult in Ichmraren, and as a result the project could not initiate any referral activities. Resources would have been better spent in Lalla Aziza and Imintanout, where services are available, than in Ichmraren, but this choice to implement in Ichmraren was made in accordance with the Moroccan government.

Evaluation interviews found that beneficiaries thought the project was relevant to their situation. The project objectives are aligned with their needs and they wanted more services

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such as income generating activities (IGA), employment, local cooperatives for adults to increase their business skills and improve their income, and schools near their homes or good accommodation for children who traveled far to go to school. The project has allowed beneficiaries to regain their belief that while they continue to live in rural areas, they have all that they need in order to live well. They gave them the necessary motivation to contribute towards improving their life conditions without the need to go to an urban zone.

It was observed by the evaluator that beneficiary expectations are often beyond what can be offered by the project. In some cases, this reduces project credibility in the community as some beneficiaries perceive that the project is not following through on its promises. Technical staff and case managers report that the process of assessing a beneficiary needs, developing their education and employment plans and establishing service plans were all structured through specific, rigorous tools and done with the full participation of the beneficiary and their caregiver.

3.2 Efficacy of the Linkage to Harlem Children’s Zone Project

The PP project was modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) project. This is a linkage model, where beneficiaries are referred to services provided by other organizations in the project areas in order to meet diverse needs.

Question 3: What is the reality of this linkage model in Morocco? Please describe how this works in the PP project.

According to the HCZ model, in order to create change it is necessary to address five core principles in a coordinated manner. In Morocco, no one knows the HCZ approach with that name, including the project team. Yet the project has adapted the five core principles of the HCZ approach in its project design, as described below:

Principle 1 - Neighborhood-Based, At-Scale Approach: Serve an entire neighborhood comprehensively and at scale, which helps to achieve three goals: (a) it reaches children in numbers significant enough to affect the culture of a community; (b) it transforms the physical and social environments that impact the children’s development; and (c) it creates programs at a scale large enough to meet the local need.

The PP project’s best adaptation of this principle was illustrated when the project activities were conducted in a small rural community. All families were involved, and associations which provide professional training and/or professional initiation and/or academic reinforcement also belonged to such community. However, this is not the case in the urban areas. In any case, the interviewees did not mention the principle of reaching everyone in the neighborhood.

Principle 2 - The HCZ Pipeline: Create a pipeline of support. Develop excellent, accessible programs and schools and then link them to one another so that they provide uninterrupted support for children’s healthy growth, starting with pre-natal programs for parents and finishing when young people graduate from college. Surround the pipeline with additional programs that support families and the larger community.

The PP project sequence aims to provide a support pipeline for beneficiaries, which the project calls “pathways.” Although this is not exactly the same as HCZ, the PP project uses the Pathways

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to Advancing Viable Alternatives to Education and Employment (PAVE) approach, which utilizes youth workers from networked organizations to assist targeted beneficiaries (children and their parents) in planning alternatives to child labor in education and decent work. PAVE is a case management-based systemic approach to children and youth which focuses on the following points: (a) providing appropriate interventions for the child; (b) planning together with the child and parents in terms of opportunities for education, training and preparation for career interests; and (c) allowing the child to follow a viable pathway in order to achieve a given level of education and/or basic training. The steps of the pathway are:

1. Sensitization;

2. Registration;

3. Evaluation and finalization of service plans;

4. Consultation with the child/youth and families regarding educational development; and

5. Monitoring and control for continuous improvement.

Thus, one can consider Principle 2 to have been well adapted to the Moroccan context.

Principle 3 - Building Community: Build community among residents, institutions, and stakeholders, who help to create the environment necessary for children’s healthy development.

Indeed, the PP project is working in this direction. The choice of stakeholders from different sectors and the project’s systemic approach to the child protection proves the achievement of this principle. The Government of Morocco and local NGOs are also trying to link children in need to local services.

Principle 4 - Evaluation: Evaluate program outcomes and create a feedback loop that provides data to the project management team for use in improving and refining program activities.

Some of the PP project’s monitoring indicators provide guidance for potential adjustments. At the time of the evaluation, there was no feedback loop for providing data to the management team. However, at the provincial level, and with the help of case-managers, stakeholders received regular feedback from the field.

Principle 5 - Culture of Success: Cultivate a culture of success rooted in passion, accountability, leadership, and teamwork.

Since starting the PP project, such culture was not possible, particularly in light of staff turnover and implementation delays, but according to the Education Specialist, since the month of March (the time of the evaluation) this principle is present in all the activities the project has been implementing.

Referrals to Social Services: Social workers are essential members of the staff and they work alongside the community organizers to refer families to services like counseling, housing assistance, and emergency food and clothing.

Providing referrals is the main objective of the PP project and forms the basis of its livelihood activities. Unfortunately, many of these relevant services are not available in some of the

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project’s target locations, and in order to address these gaps, the project seeks to identify alternative services to refer beneficiaries, sometimes located outside of the target communities.

The strength of the PP project is its link to agencies, public administration and civil society in addressing the needs of children. The services offered by the Ministry of Labor, Entraide Nationale, Ministry of National Education and other institutions (INDH, Al Amana, craft rooms, Chambers of Agriculture, etc.) are aligned with the goals of the project, and the PP project directs its beneficiaries to those services to form a coherent system of support around each beneficiary. This creates a more well-rounded and community-based dynamic that will help vulnerable families out of poverty.

The PP project works to connect each beneficiary to the various entities according to the service offered. However, enrolling a child in school is insufficient if he/she does not remain and succeed. According to the project document, the project links children’s school performance with their school teachers and school environment, as well as family responsibility and involvement in their child’s education and communication with school. The project offers the same services to all households in order to address living conditions in the home. These services are not addressed to the needs of the children, but to the parents and focus only on the improvement of family income. This is not sufficient to address the needs of the children, and PP must also consider the periods when the children are outside of school or vocational training, and develop activities accordingly. Further, it is important that parents are literate in order to understand the goals and value of schooling.

Question 4: How has PP handled the replication of the Harlem Children’s Model? Has PP been able to adapt this model to the Moroccan environment?

With regard to replicating the Harlem Children’s Zone Model, an “enabling environment” is when all the necessary elements — geographical, physical, financial, cultural, and institutional — are in place to support the project’s activities and achieve a positive outcome for children and their families. Creative proposed an “integrated service provision model” that borrows from the experience of the Harlem Children's Model to provide “cradle to career services” or “pathways” from education to employment, leveraging existing services in host communities to support extremely vulnerable youth and their families.

The project identifies potential partners, maps existing services and community assets, promotes referrals, and builds on the capacity of local organizations to sustain key services beyond the life of the project. However, local communities in the remote Marrakech-Tansift-Al Haouz region often have extremely small, low capacity service providers. Promise Pathways is not in the position to formally replicate HCZ in Morocco; to date, the original HCZ has received over $100 million in individual philanthropy to support children and their families in a 100-block radius of New York City, one of the best-resourced cities in the world. Rather, PP aims to understand what services most support youth to achieve project outcomes, such as staying in school, finding employment and abstaining from engaging in child labor and/or hazardous work. An enabling environment lays the groundwork for the project to succeed.

Since 2014, PP organized workshops where the concept of “wrap around services” was explained, and each stakeholder defined their role and agreed upon how to provide coordinated local services. Provincial and regional structures provide support to local stakeholders in order

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to make the wrap around services work. All partners found the project to be relevant, but at this time there is no real comprehensive environment of support services around the children, as interventions are linear and provided one after the other. It is not clear how they complement each other. Sometimes the activities provided by EN and DENF overlap, and sometimes there is a missing link between them when addressing child labor. Afterwards it is unclear which institution is responsible for implementing these activities.

As noted above, the three main stakeholders (DENF, Labor Department [LD] and EN) find PP relevant because it affects the areas of priority within their responsibilities. The PP works to provide the methodology of a protective environment around the child, which is not the case for other stakeholders, who work more by focusing on one or two aspects. In the opinion of the evaluation, the project particularly renowned for its intervention methodology that builds on stakeholder participation, integrates families in the development of solutions for children, and strengthens the link between families and their socio-economic environment. Stakeholders related to child protection affect all aspects of this project using different tools. The added value of this project is to bring all stakeholders around the same table and put the child at the center of the different actions. Thus, PP in Morocco is very relevant, well designed and meets the real needs of beneficiaries.

Question 5: What is the efficacy of this model in Morocco?

The project’s efficacy is measured by the degree it achieves its objectives and expected results. All target numbers laid out in the Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (CMEP) were achieved, though some indicators could not be measured because the activities are still ongoing.

Ultimately the efficacy of this linkage model in Morocco depends on the efficacy of each stakeholder. The project indicates that the implementation of the HCZ model has moderately positive academic and social impacts on child labor. In general, the most effective interventions in the fight against child labor, whether in non-formal education or vocational training, have employed intensive and reasonably individualized instruction, combined with careful and frequent monitoring of student progress.

The HCZ model is systemic and provides regular activities that allow for the personal development of children. It can be approached from several angles related to parents, schools, social workers, vocational training, and employment. All of these elements are relevant, but none of them are sufficient. Only policies that act simultaneously on these various elements might have a lasting impact.

The project creates a synergy and coordinates with all stakeholders. However, because the startup took a lot of time, there is a concern that it will not be possible to operationalize all the mechanisms and tools within the remaining time period. However, the project is optimistic that the intended results will be achieved and is taking steps toward this, such as setting up vocational training mobile units in areas where youth cannot travel to attend trainings. Such initiatives are managed by the commune, local associations and other stakeholders.

The recruitment of case managers has been very useful to make the locally-based approach effective, given the large number of institutional players in education and their hierarchy. Case managers facilitate the project’s work and access to communities and they represent leverage in

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adapting the model to the Moroccan context. They provide tutoring, vocational training and empowerment of parents and leading institutions concerning the transfer plan. An indirect effect of the project is that it enhances their skills and enables them to build professional community. During evaluation interviews, according to the case managers, all of the training they received for the surveys, the baseline plan or the beneficiary monitoring was very interesting. They learned a lot regarding survey protocol, indicators, and who is poor in their community.

EN has proposed to set up a local cell managed by a social worker, but the EN child protection unit is having difficulties being formalized as a system that coordinates all government agencies into a common action plan. In all cases, it would require a local institutional entity that connects all the stakeholders and drives the process. According to the project’s COP, right now communities are appropriating the PP model and mobilizing local partners to ensure the delivery of services. PP is planning to mobilize and mainstream INDH’s call for local projects in order to address child labor and replicate the PP model by funding child labor activities and following up with grantees to ensure the application of the model and its methodologies. Local case managers are key actors in sustaining local systems and setting up new ones.

With regard to youth vocational training, the PP project leads to positive change in the behavior of apprentices and helping to develop their personal and social skills. Sustainability mechanisms for these modules and materials are not yet in place, but the PP project team confirmed to the evaluator that this would be done before the end of the project.

3.3 Effectiveness and Implementation

This section evaluates the project’s progress until the midterm point; that is, whether the project is likely to fulfill all the targeted activities and results as outlined in the project document and Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (CMEP). It attempts to analyze the factors that may contribute to the project's eventual successes and challenges, and to assess what is happening on the ground.

Creative Associates provided a major effort in the preparation and monitoring of project activities. It is evident that the project team and consultants are driven by a strong will to make the project a success. Case managers, led by PP teams, are reflecting on their interventions and are looking at some improvements for next year. The project has led to a significant number of children returning to formal school.

According to the Livelihoods Specialist, the project has reached 85% of the components targeting youth 15-17 years old. From a quantitative perspective, targets are being met. However, it must be noted that the 2014-2016 activities analyzed for this evaluation have been conducted recently and have produced some effects, but final results cannot yet be assessed. For example, youth who have received job training have yet to be placed into a relevant job in the labor market. Moreover, the positive results observed during the evaluation mission are still fragile at this stage of implementation and depend on a supportive administrative environment, though the project is beginning to implement sustainability measures.

For the education component, the number of children targeted for the first cohort is also reached (> 90%). See Table 1 below, provided by the Education Specialist:

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Table 1: Distribution of children enrolled Education Cohort 1:

However, while Creative has met midterm beneficiary target goals, the services have not always been of high quality, which has been affected by the challenges and delays discussed in Section 3.1. Additionally, according to project staff, the PP is an ambitious project with a small budget and a limited number of human resources. The activities outlined by the project to ensure effective implementation of the interventions appear to project managers as being unrealistic and deserving of revision. The project will select activities that are most likely to produce impact, including psychosocial development for children and life skills for youth.

The project has no pre-established risk plan in case challenges arise, and makes alternative plans on a case-by-case basis. For example, at the time of the evaluation, there were no services available in Ichmraren to which the project can refer beneficiaries as part of the linkage model, and the PP didn’t have an alternative offer for these households. It is important to ensure that the proposed solutions will be acceptable and maintain a level of quality. In addition, when the project lost the Education Specialist, it spent a lot of time looking for a replacement. According to the Project Director, it is difficult to find a candidate with the necessary profile who would be willing to move to Marrakech, as most of the qualified candidates are in Rabat with agencies who work with the central government. Creative’s rigorous regulations and USDOL’s process of approving key project staff added to the amount of time needed to recruit a new staff person.

According to the project team, the implementation budget and staffing were insufficient. The project team is made up of five people and the team expressed a need for more staff given the multitude of activities to implement, the number of stakeholders with which to coordinate, and the geographic scope of the targeted localities. Particularly, a staff person dedicated communications would improve its effectiveness with stakeholders. When a stakeholder undergoes staffing changes, the new personnel are unaware of the project and it is necessary to inform the new staff members about PP’s activities. It would also be helpful to recruit consultants to assist in monitoring and evaluation (M&E), as the data collection tasks outlined in the CMEP are quite extensive.

Currently the project’s technical team carries no financial responsibility for the project, and they are unable to access the budget figures. As a result the Education Specialist and the Livelihoods Specialist experience delays in the release of funds and are only able to do short term planning.

Beneficiary Categories Total Marrakech Chichaoua Al Haouz 1/ Working children withdrawn from work (6–14 years old)

823 271 252 300

Cohort 1 Targets 300 99 91 100

Actual Beneficiaries 271 (90%) 87 (88%) 84 (92%) 100 (100%)

2/ Children at risk (6–14 years old)

3,294 1,083 1,012 1,199

Cohort 1 Targets 1,070 352 328 390

Actual Beneficiaries 1,215 (113%) 448 374 393

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For example, they are unable to plan workshops (establishing the number of participants, venue, coffee breaks, etc.) for the entire project period. However, the COP stated that she is managing the field budget and that there are no delays in obtaining approval from the headquarters office (HQ); delays were due to incomplete procurement files presented by some team members. Approvals required from HQ and/or USDOL include consultant contracts and staff recruitment.

In February 2016, the project began using a part time consultant who lives in Rabat to manage the project’s finances, but the files often need ongoing management. Creative has a rigorous process for financial management as described in the Field Policies and Procedures manual. A few examples of the routine financial management and administrative duties include: (a) the field office Finance Manager, the program backstop in Washington, DC, and the project biller in HQ conduct monthly reviews of the field vouchers; (b) monthly field projections are prepared by the team leaders to oversee and guide the Finance Manager, which are then approved by the COP, HQ Corporate Monitor, and Controller, before funds are sent to the field; and (c) the project biller conducts quality assurance “spot checks” of field financial files. All field finance files are sent to Washington, DC at the end of each billing cycle, where they are reviewed for accuracy during the monthly voucher review and stored until the project’s close date. According to PP team, the process takes a lot of time. It is advisable to make the handling of the budgets flexible, in order for the component managers to be clear about the financing mechanisms available and to provide a timely response to emerging situations and challenges.

According to observations made during field visits, the project members and partners communicate using formal administrative methods, which can be slow, rather than rapid and informal communication in order to make ongoing project decisions as needed and relevant. Swift and timely project performance would require more rapid communications, which are more informal and more efficient, closer to those used in the private sector.

Finally, the project also lacks an Administrative Assistant. The project recruited a person who can help; however, Creative recognizes that the administrative responsibilities are sometimes significant for a small team with multiple responsibilities. Budget constraints do not allow the project to hire someone with a strong profile who would effectively support the project, as this position was not included in the budget submitted to USDOL. Lack of support resulted in the team doing the bulk of administrative and other work, which added to the pressure of implementing the technical aspects of field activities and caused them to lose time. Administrative responsibilities include: (a) ensuring compliance with financial procedures, including procurement of goods and services; and (b) Supporting the PP team in preparing for the field activities.

Question 6: How is PP working with the schools in the project? What is the nature of PP’s relationship with the schools?

After the agreement was signed in February 2015, the PP coordinates with relevant departments in the Provincial Directorates of Education to help identify schools for inclusion in the project. In Al Haouz, case managers were not allowed to enter some schools without permission from DENF, which is the counterpart at the central level. Attempts to resolve the issue did not improve the situation. To visit any school, the project needs to make a written request through administrative channels, and the Director of Non-Formal Education mentioned

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that if correspondence and directives had come from him, access to the school would be easier for the project. This would have saved time since there were several changes in education staff, which sometimes led to difficulties accessing certain schools and/or students.

Creative held several stakeholder meetings to identify the school selection criteria and agree on target schools using a participatory process. The Provincial Director of Education, who was recently nominated in Chichaoua, stated that he would have preferred to choose schools through other criteria, such as those which were more impoverished and vulnerable. Because the director is new, the PP has the challenge of repeating the same arguments.

Regarding PP’s educational work, stakeholders recommended that the PP project adapt its pedagogical and psycho-diagnostic modules for the targeted children, in particular those in middle school. The other project tools must also be adapted because they were developed in other contexts. For example, tools from ITQANE project and the Advancing Learning and Employability for Better Future Project (ALEF) are designed for children in middle school, but not primary school.

Multi-level classroom management techniques are a challenge for schools, as well as teaching and reinforcing positive behavior to support healthy school environments. However, these issues are not being discussed by the project. Furthermore, community and NGO social service providers are not a topic of discussion among the public.

Question 7: What education support do the PP beneficiaries receive from the project?

Child labor reinforces educational disadvantages and exclusion among beneficiaries, and the project’s education support activities aimed to make the right to education meaningful for these students of special needs. The project reintegrates children 6 - 14 years old who dropped out of school into formal or non-formal education, and develops job skills and employability for those who are 15 - 17 years old. It also supports the institutions that can advocate toward these goals and links with stakeholders in order to provide a set of services that are as comprehensive as possible in light of the operational context. It invited education actors, often with divergent views, such as associations, government ministries, to informational and purposeful debates.

During the startup period, the project experienced a delay in delivering basic educational services, partly due to the departure of the Education Specialist as well as the hold put on activities until the agreement was signed with the Government of Morocco. Following the baseline study, Creative was focused on rapid enrollment of beneficiaries to help meet the target for the October 31, 2015 Technical Progress Report (TPR). The project activities proposed currently have more emphasis on livelihoods than education. The educational activities will resume in April, in a structured way with an action plan, taking into account the project objectives.

To date, the project failed to achieve the planned activities with schools due to the departure of the Education Manager. The M&E Manager, having an education background, stepped in but managing both the education and M&E-related tasks at the same time proved to be more than one person can handle. However, he did his best to help strengthen capacities of case managers to continue the beneficiary monitoring through the PAVE methodology, to create local dynamics with associations to support the program and to provide services to PP school children.

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The project is now running against the remaining time for implementing the education component. In fact the time left for conducting activities includes two months of this school year and next academic year. Because it will not be possible to identify new students beginning school in June 2017, the project will need to rethink the activities to be implemented with children 6–14 years old after that date. The time it took for the staff to react and put project components in place was often slow; support classes should have started in March at the latest. Everyone hopes now that they can catch up with intensive classes in April and May 2016.

Despite the challenges identified above, the project has been able to reach most of their midterm beneficiary target goals. The project reintegrated target children into formal or non-formal education classes. It also enrolled the targeted youth in vocational trainings; some of these trainings (such as visiting Siti Fadma) are not vocational, rather they are just professional initiations. In this case, some young people can benefit from them even though they are illiterate because they do not need to be able write in order to participate. The facilitation of school clubs and extracurricular activities is ongoing and the project is preparing activities in this direction. The school-based integrated support services including social, psychological and pedagogical support programs are ongoing. Indeed, the work to improve the quality of education services has just begun, as well as work with teachers.

Through the PAVE approach, the project also mobilized and made education actors accountable regarding the monitoring of each student. According to the case managers and some teachers/school watch committee members interviewed during the evaluation, PAVE methodology will contribute to reducing and preventing child labor in the target communities. According to the PAVE approach, each beneficiary must have an individualized plan, called a “pathway.” This will be very useful because household living conditions, the work and education status of beneficiaries, and the status of referrals and service provision in each of the target zones will be documented to promptly identify the children dropping out of school and improve school retention and education services. As a first step of the implementation of PAVE approach, tablets were offered with software (still incomplete) that can make a personalized plan for each child. At the time of the evaluation, the case managers could enroll beneficiaries but the software was not finished in order for them to complete their files and implement the plans. The sustainability of this methodology is planned through Entraide Nationale, who will use referrals and adopt a child-centered approach to case management in the child protection units. This will permit the institutionalization of PAVE and of uniform referral mechanisms.

It is expected that Youth Speak will give a real boost to the project; however the problem is that it is not yet implemented and there is only one school year left until the end of the project. Creative has even included this activity within its work plan submitted to USDOL. The remaining time to deliver and consolidate the children’s activities is too short. Indeed, the Educational Specialist is aware of this problem, and he has provided a contingency plan for the first cohort and an entry strategy for the second cohort. The project hired a consultant to perform some of the functions identified in the CMEP, and the project developed their Terms of Reference (TOR) accordingly.

The project has also begun to train AREF Education Specialists on USAID’s Early Warning System toolkit, which was piloted across four countries by Creative Associates. While the new Education Specialist was previously busy with becoming oriented to the project and helping

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with the audit mission, he conducted a number of activities following the interim evaluation mission. The training on the early warning system has nine modules, and 188 school directors, teachers, students, parent association members, local association members and case managers have completed the modules.

The project planned for coaches to work with youth leaders in thirteen middle schools to extend youth-led innovative initiatives such as Creative Mapper, Youth Speak and mini mobile libraries, among others. Until now, the project has not fully implemented this activity. The project has trained youth from the thirteen middle schools to map community assets, and used Creative Mapper in its baseline assessment. Additionally, the project plans to use the youth mappers as future youth speakers in order to consolidate their future training and their leadership role in schools and in their communities.

Transport and accommodation are often highlighted as the main cause of school dropout among boys under age 14 and for girls of all ages. Among the girls who have been reintegrated in middle school, some will succeed to go to high school before the end of the project. However, to date, there is no high school in the localities targeted by the project. These girls will need accommodation and transport to attend high schools located outside their communities. Household beneficiaries interviewed during the evaluation fieldwork mentioned that without transportation they do not allow their children (mainly girls) to attend school. Other parents mentioned the need for both transportation and accommodation. They do not trust the offer of accommodations by EN at the Dar Talibas, which are boarding houses located near middle and high schools that provide free accommodation and food for boys or girls (in general), as some of them are mismanaged in Morocco. Parents fear that their daughters might be subject to sexual harassment or any other form of violence, or that it will have bad food.

However, children between 6 and 14 years old, especially girls, think that all transportation and accommodation problems will be resolved through high school by the project. While the technical staff and case managers confirmed that they did not make unrealistic promises, certain activities such as working with the communities to identify needs and determining how to respond can be interpreted as a promise that the project will address all of the needs identified. The project team must be mindful of this. For example, while the project has not promised to resolve transportation issues for students, PP mobilizes the commune, local authorities, associations and other stakeholders to find local solutions to allow children and girls to continue their education, which includes transportation. In some project locations where licensed taxis are not available, the project pays unlicensed cars to transport children and youth as if they were taxis. The project should be mindful that PP is responsible for what happens on the road, and that this form of transportation is not covered by insurance if an accident were to occur.

Active efforts are being made to extend the Dar Talibas to host more students during the upcoming school year. According to the project team, PP is contributing to the attractiveness of the Dar Talibas through the Dar Taliba de Qualité (DTQ) program by training DTQ Directors and animators on psychological support and by organizing awareness campaigns for parents and their daughters. PP is working in collaboration with EN and the Mohammed VI Foundation to make the Dar Taliba an attractive venue for learning, tutoring and psychological support and to encourage parents to send their daughters. In Ourika, PP has received requests from 45 families

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to host their daughters in the Dar Talibas. PP is also working with the local commune and associations, EN and the Mohamed VI Foundation to build extensions on the existing Dar Talibas so that it can host a larger number of girls for the next school year. Another feasible scenario (among others) would be finding a solution with the municipalities and the parents association for the rental of a vehicle by the project, payment of the driver by the municipality and payment of gas oil by an association. In these ways, PP mobilizes the commune, local authorities, associations and other stakeholders to find solutions that allow children and girls to access and continue their education.

Other factors affecting dropout rates discussed by participants in focus groups included the atmosphere at the school and school performance. Among the project beneficiaries, the number of children that have dropped out between primary and middle school is very high. For example, in Ourika, there are more than 70 girls who are not attending middle school, and only 20 who are enrolled in middle school by case managers. Interviewees indicated that it would have been useful for the project to provide pedagogical support for teachers. In future training, the project must train teachers on methods that motivate students to love school.

Parents of children 6 - 14 years old are not aware that their children should also study at home and not just at school. Parents accept that their children attend school, but as soon as they get home parents ask them to help with some work, especially in rural areas. It is important to sensitize parents on the importance of doing homework after completing the school day in the classroom. To address this, the PP project is planning to organize campaigns that define child labor and consider long hours or heavy loads involved in household chores.

At the formal school level, some government interviewees (at both the national and provincial levels) felt that the number of school supplies was not always a sustainable way to ensure continued school attendance, even when combined with IGA for parents, as it may have negative unintended consequences. For example, in the government-run Tayssir project, which provided direct assistance for children to attend primary school, they found that some parents did not want their children to succeed in moving on to middle school so that they remained eligible for the support provided by the Tayssir project for primary school students. However they appreciated the livelihood activities for households and felt it would ensure legal youth employment.

PP project also addresses public health issues in the targeted populations by helping beneficiaries access a Ramed card (public health card), which allows them to receive health services, as well as a birth certificate, which allows them to enroll in school. It also organized medical caravans in all zones and promised to provide medical glasses for people who cannot see very well.

Question 8a: How are children being connected to educational services?

Beneficiary selection was done according to the PAVE methodology. The PP team works with local authorities, school associations and provincial sector representatives to select a list of potential beneficiaries. This list is finalized upon conducting home visits to beneficiary families and collecting extensive information to decide on eligibility using the intake form. The HH Survey and the Participatory Rural Labor Market Assessment (PRLMA) have informed the

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project on potential beneficiaries. The following are the criteria used in beneficiary selection, which respect the child labor definitions specified in the CMEP:

• Children between 6-14 years old;

• living in the targeted areas;

• not attending school; and

• working.

The project also provides services for school children between 6-14 years old if they are at risk of entering child labor, such as when a brother or sister dropped out of school to go to work.

The first cohort of beneficiaries was targeted in August, when schools were closed. Since school was out of session, PP worked with the Chichaoua Provincial Directorate to identify students in the government’s Massar database who had dropped out of school. Some School Directors who participated in the project organized an IMAP activity with youth, which is a youth-led community asset mapping tool which allows participants to document all the places and activities available to young people outside of time spent in formal education. With guidance from trained adults, youth go out into their communities and discover businesses, institutions and other resources, record the relevant information, and compile the data into a system where other young people can access it. Case managers, through families and sometimes through reference surveys, also identified the students for inclusion in the project. School Directors were not always associated with this activity (e.g. Marrakech middle school), and according to interviews, teachers were also not associated. The second cohort was identified jointly with delegations and schools.

The Senior Education Specialist, on board in December 2015, has reviewed Creative’s tools developed under the ITQANE project, including the Youth Speak toolkit. Creative has had several meetings with UNICEF on the “Child-to-Child” methodology, where younger children learn about school readiness from older children. The social mobilization caravans organized in Chichaoua and the IMAP survey employed the “Child-to-Child” methodology, and the planned implementation of Youth Speak will do the same. After the evaluation fieldwork was completed and during the social mobilization caravans which were organized by the Ministry of National Education (MEN), the PP team used census data on children who had dropped out or were not registered in school to identify cases through this “Child-to-Child” methodology. These dropouts are brought back to school by the PP teams in collaboration with the MEN partners.

However, sometimes in Marrakech and Chichaoua the project had chosen pupils who did not need education support. The lesson learned is that it is essential to carefully define and delineate the beneficiary selection criteria.

The project had planned to work with teachers and principals as first resources and they should have a greater role in monitoring students (absences, academic performance, dropouts). In the CMEP, the project planned to strengthen their skills but for the moment this has not yet been done. The school parents’ associations have also been approached by the PP. According to the project, PP signed an agreement with the regional federation of parents’ associations, comprising 83 associations. The federation has a heavy influence on the MEN structures and will help to expedite all activities planned with the parents’ associations and to mobilize parents

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for their awareness on the importance of continued education through their active involvement in their children’s education.

Beneficiaries reported that they have mainly heard about the program through case managers or associations that have mobilized and informed them about services. The following excerpts from focus groups illustrate this:

• During FGD a participant said: “The case-manager came to my house; they knocked on all the doors of the douar [rural village].”

• Another participant in a FGD stated: "In reality, it started with someone who heard about it at the souk, then the information spread. Amzmiz is a small town where everything is quickly known."

• In the FGD with artisans in a douar of Siti Fadma, a participant said: "We have heard of the PP project through the local association."

Question 8b: At what point are children added to the database as child beneficiaries?

For the first cohort, the beneficiaries were identified through surveys during the start-up phase. Case managers then contacted them. Currently, beneficiaries are being recruited on the basis of information collected via partners and case managers.

There are four categories of beneficiaries:

• Children in school who are prevented from dropping out (6-17 years old);

• Children at risk of dropping out;

• Children who come to urban zones and work; and

• Youth engaged in hazardous work (15-17 years old).

The project worked in 70 douars (rural villages) in the province of El Haouz, and the project’s prevention work in primary and middle schools is beginning to take shape. The selection criteria set forth give priority to children with low academic performance, but the project did not select children with a low average in every case. The selection of PP beneficiaries is done according to a scale of risks, where even children whose performance is fine are at risk of dropping out when they live in extremely vulnerable situations: orphans, those with divorced parents, single mothers, a handicapped care taker, child headed households, siblings who are in child labor, and living in areas where child labor is prevalent, etc.

The number of beneficiaries assigned to each case manager is adequate. Beneficiaries are followed by the PP program in coordination with the training entity. In cases when beneficiaries drop out of the project, case managers submit the information to the M&E Specialist to update the DBMS system. However, beneficiaries who have left the program are not replaced, because according to the project, the PP teams identify more than the required number of beneficiaries per cohort. The attrition rate of beneficiaries is not yet known to date, except for Al Karam who said they have already lost 15 to 20 beneficiaries, which they say is normal.

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The project lacked clear tools or methods to verify the quality of educational services, such as exam scores or skills testing for vulnerable children, especially girls at risk of dropping out of school to go to work. The project is working on developing these tools.

Question 9: Please describe how PP is providing livelihood services.

Improving household income is an objective of the PP project. To achieve this endeavor, the project promised to analyze the possibilities of creating income generating activities or cooperatives for parents. It has also promised training for adults to improve their job skills. Those in need of increasing production or generating income were given information on employment opportunities or self-employment, referred to support services (vocational training, microfinance, etc.), and provided support in the administrative formalities needed to access such services. According to the project team, income generating activities will be implemented in coordination with INDH, Al Amana and the craft, agriculture and tourism rooms.

During the baseline, investigators visited households and compared their responses with reality, so the activities of the livelihoods component reflect the beneficiaries’ needs and realities. Beneficiaries reported during the evaluation that the project’s training workshops and information sharing has been very rewarding. After a year of work, the balance sheet reported 536 households had accessed livelihoods information and advice, and 1,085 young people had received basic vocational training to perform small jobs in the fields of auto mechanics, crafts, basic culinary arts and hairstyling. The project plans to accompany some parents in the IGA implementation process, and to provide the trained youth with internships.

The PP work plan has a set of steps and actions to support youth beneficiaries. Starting with a needs assessment, an education/employment development plan and service plan are developed by which beneficiaries are referred to vocational training and then to internships, which result in employment for a portion of beneficiaries. For the others, the project works with the private sector to identify employers for the PP beneficiaries.

Promise Pathways works with vulnerable youth to create pathways to decent work and provide vocational training that is oriented to the job market. Youth training on life skills began in accordance with the work plan timeline. Internships for youth began in March 2016, after beneficiaries completed six months of vocational training. After the completion of the evaluation fieldwork, the project initiated the Imijdan cooperative which was designed to train female youth in making patisserie (French pastries). In March 2016, PP started pre-job insertion internships in hotels for the patisserie graduates, and others will begin employment after completing their vocational training.

However, the proposed vocational training is not always geared toward a job opportunity and not always of the desired quality for it to serve as a springboard for developing employability. The pathway towards employment began with vocational training for youth, but interviewees wanted to see how the youth could find a job afterward. For example, the evaluator observed that one trainer – who conducted several activities for girls in Aghbalou, including embroidery, sewing, and knitting – lacked goals and a curriculum. However ANAPEC is helping youth, who have finished vocational training and are in pre-job internship programs, to look for a first job, write a resume and teaching them where to seek help if needed.

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The various categories of beneficiaries are generally satisfied with the nature and quality of the services, but young people between 15 and 17 years old believe that this project will enable them to get jobs. According to the beneficiaries, the project has promised to help them find work after training. The project work plan and CMEP includes job placement activities for a percentage of youth between 15-17 years old and PP is working towards implementing this. In March, the Livelihoods Specialist worked with the private sector to ensure internships for the first cohort of youth beneficiaries. It is expected that a percentage of this cohort will be hired at the place where they have their internships. PP will continue to support the remaining youth to find jobs, start independent economic activities, and create interest groups with the help of the Office of Cooperation Development or cooperatives.

The PP is supposed to ensure that beneficiaries maintain their job for at least six months before exiting the program, and the project should focus on training them on the mechanisms of how to find a safe job. According to the Livelihood Specialist, the 15-17 year old youth beneficiaries from the first PP cohort are undergoing job placement internships, and PP and ANAPEC are training this cohort on life skills and career guidance. The project is facilitating the job search for the group of beneficiaries who completed their internship in March 2016. ANAPEC posts PP beneficiaries on its job search website, and businesses like to hire candidates posted in ANAPEC because ANAPEC takes care of their social security payments and taxes for two years.

The Youth Speak program focuses on well-being, helping students identify factors that promote help-seeking behaviors and positive coping tools, and trains youth in public speaking skills. Youth Speak assemblies and workshops are an effective way to phase-in the fight against child labor and raise awareness and dialogue within a school environment. It enables youth to forge very positive relationships with school board members and work closely with them when developing curricula and educational materials. The sharing of youth’s personal stories (as a form of contact-based presentations) is very powerful and proves to be a way to increase awareness, hope and resilience and reduce stigma. However, it would have been beneficial for PP to work in partnership with vocational training teachers, like those of the Ministry of National Education, in order to orient the students to vocational training.

Creative did not include activities to develop the entrepreneurial spirit of young people in their project document; however, they are building entrepreneurial skills and thinking with artisans through their partnership with Aid to Artisans. Entrepreneurial thinking and competencies are also reflected in the Youth Speak toolkit, though the use of this toolkit has not yet begun. It shall be used in the education component. Unfortunately, this component has been delayed due to the late launch of the activities and the departure of the original Education Specialist.

The project planned to provide informal vocational training certificates (which do not come from the organizations that officially offer vocational training, namely the Vocational Training Office and EN). Beneficiaries may think it is a diploma; however, it is not possible for the project to give formal diplomas. The diploma allows them to attend other training, and it will add value to their resume. The PP project is seeking ways to recognize the training through official certificates from EN, as well as certification from the Ministry of Handicrafts since the training provided is in this topical area.

While beneficiaries have received training, the training for managers from vocational training institutions has not yet been implemented at the time of the evaluation. Compared to other

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vocational training beneficiaries, the beneficiaries targeted by the project have different needs; their educational level is often lower than that of other students, and they are generally much poorer. The local teachers and school managers need training in order to adapt their services to the specific needs of these beneficiaries.

For adults, Aid to Artisans (ATA) provided short-term technical assistance in the form of craft development workshops to enable beneficiary households that produce traditional crafts to improve their designs and gain better access and integration to markets for their products. This was a one year process, which began with assessing artisans and their products and advising them on product designs and market demands. ATA and PP then conducted field visits to assess progress toward creating the new designs. ATA provided a training workshop to some artisans, to assess the final product and to train artisans on pricing, quality control, packaging, exhibiting their products, and marketing strategies. ATA and PP also advised and facilitated the selling of products in local markets as well as some international markets. This training was well appreciated by the beneficiaries and the improvement before and after the training is tangible. It permits them to earn more and consequently no longer depend on their children’s income.

According to the FGD, the craftsmen from Marrakech were able to apply what they learned. The craftsmen from the other two provinces are awaiting the next steps after training. Households who need support for IGA and très petite entreprises (very little businesses) are still in the process of being identified. The PP should prepare them to look for a first job, write a resume and teach them where to look for help if needed.

There are also some strategic and budget issues that could be reviewed in order to improve project performance for the remainder of the implementation period. For example, quality would be improved if beneficiaries were accompanied for a longer period of time. Follow-up is now six months, which may not be long enough to see the results of the training and help participants look for jobs.

The choice of areas and precise livelihood activities to be offered in these areas sometimes makes the execution of the project difficult. For example, as identified in the CMEP, the project planned to conduct a Participatory Rural Labor Market Appraisal in order to identify small-skills training topics. As of March 2016, the project had not yet defined what kind of livelihood topics will be covered. The project also promised to register all youth in vocational training, but could not follow through on this in Lala Aziza, where vocational training services were not available. It is difficult to bring young people to another area because of challenges regarding transport and accommodation. According to the project team, the project also faced cultural barriers, such as the fact that parents will not allow girls to leave their homes to attend vocational training. To address this issue, since the time of the evaluation fieldwork, the project mobilized local stakeholders and worked with the vocational training institutions to arrange transportation for girls in their villages. The PP team also supported the OFPPT mobile teams in setting up training structures in close proximity to the target population. The communes and associations contributed the training venue and paid for the training.

The findings of the PRLMA also revealed a high rate of disease in the PP communities. Health awareness and care caravans were organized to respond to identified needs as part of the social protection services component of the PP livelihoods program. The evaluation found that the households appreciated the medical caravans. Several were identified as shortsighted and in

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need of glasses. At the time of the evaluation fieldwork, the provision of the glasses had been a slow process, but these were delivered in April 2016. Feedback from the youth in Marrakech indicated that they did not appreciate the clothes from the caravan since they were second hand, but the case managers of the education component stated that the clothes were of good quality.

Question 10: What is the value added from linking households to livelihood services?

The project sought to increase the range of possibilities for paid work available to women and men by creating an environment that supports the establishment and growth of income generating activities and cooperatives. This project improves the skills of families and employers by providing professional training and contributes to building the capacity of associations. Increasing household livelihoods has helped improve the socioeconomic status of beneficiaries. Families were integrated in this type of project for the first time in Morocco.

The education acquired during vocational training is also a definite asset for young people looking for their first job in the difficult economic environment of Morocco. The project offers prospects of promising career paths both through training in various trades and internship placements within a company to experience training in an industry. The quality of training provided by the PP project is a significant asset in the labor market. PP is working to ensure that the vocational training modules and materials are available at the end of the project.

The project also supports the government, the private sector and Morocco's civil society by establishing mechanisms for good coordination. Besides targeting Marrakech region, the project strengthens the capacity of stakeholders at the central level through participation in several training workshops. It also sought to strengthen the capacity of community organizations, local governments and districts to provide services and to support initiatives for sustainable development.

The PP project also improves the social status of households by helping them gain the Ramed medical card, birth certificates and other administrative documents.

The monitoring and evaluation system also facilitates job access with the help of local, provincial and regional partners. The adaptation of the tools is underway.

Question 11: Two organizations that were originally to be working with the PP are not. How has PP made up for this loss? Are they effectively working with new Moroccan organizations?

In designing the project, Creative planned to work with three large non-governmental organizations (NGOs). When the project began, the operational teams from the three NGOs participated in project activities and demonstrated interest in being a part of the PP project. However, two of the agreements with planned partner organizations did not come through.

INSAF is a state-approved association working since 1999 to prevent the abandonment of children born out of wedlock and the fight against the exploitation of underage girls in domestic work. INSAF not want to work with the public administration because they are a watchdog NGO specifically against domestic labor. PP and INSAF did not reach consensus, as INSAF wanted to

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focus only on domestic work among girls, which is only one of many categories that the PP project addresses. INSAF also did not want to use the wrap around services approach or the PAVE methodology for identifying, recruiting, managing and monitoring beneficiaries. These disagreements occurred only at the central management level – the field teams appropriated the concept of the PP model and were eager to work with the project – but the leadership decided not to continue this partnership.

Bayti, which means "my house" in Arabic, is a Moroccan NGO created in 1994 and based in Casablanca. Its mission is to work with street children. Bayti did not agree with the PP budget allocations. According to the project, the initial participation of the Bayti technical team did not pose any issues and they were very enthusiastic about their participation in the PP project. However, when it came time to sign the contract, they were not able to come to an agreement about the budget.

As a result, the project had to develop alternative means to implement the project, which included analyzing the local civil society fabric, finding potential entities that would be a good fit with the project, and identifying their capacity building needs in order to integrate them into the project. In effect, the project is working with twenty local associations. While this creates challenges with regard to coordination, it allows them to reach remote areas and to provide local services. The choice to engage the case managers helped overcome this difficulty and reduced the impact of losing two original partner organizations.

The project also experienced unexpected difficulties in working with Al Karam. Al Karam is a large Moroccan NGO which specializes in offering services for children in difficult situations. It cares for children who have suffered all forms of violence. It has its own experts in child psychology, speech therapy, lawyers, social workers and guidance counselors, and works in collaboration with all levels of government on missions relating to child protection. According to the project, before drawing the action plan with Al Karam, the PP team held a lot of information and consultation meetings on the work done by Al Karam and the PP project. They attempted to match Al Karam’s assets with the project’s needs as much as possible, as initially the agreement with Al Karam was to implement the full PP project in Marrakech. This included organizing awareness campaigns with communities and parents, counseling mothers, referring beneficiaries to services, etc.

Initially it was planned for Al Karam to include four full-time case managers, one full-time coordinator and two or more permanent educators as well as dedicated time from the Executive Director. They had planned for this nucleus to set up the PP model within Al Karam, which would eventually scale up and sustain the PP methodologies. It was later learned that Al Karam was short staffed. Since there is only one case manager for education and another for livelihoods, who only dedicate 50% of their time to PP as they have to ensure other Al Karam activities, these staff persons already have their hands full with Al Karam activities. As a result, Al Karam staff persons are having trouble making ends meet and struggle to choose between working in the association or on the project. The project also agreed with Al Karam on an enrollment rate of 65%, which according to this NGO is too high.

The PP project will have to make a strategic choice about the role of Al Karam and how to facilitate the appropriation of PP methodologies into the NGO. It may still be possible to scale up the partnership with this NGO. For now, Al Karam is the only institution that is able to sustain

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the entire process of the PP project, including the awareness of families, the care of children, education, tutoring, vocational training and psychosocial support, with accommodation and food and even legal assistance when necessary. Al Karam is also accustomed to troubleshooting in the Moroccan context and it would be helpful for the project to share difficult situations with them, as they arise, to gather their input.

The project is also currently assessing the possibility of establishing a relationship with Al Akhawayn University in order to include the issues of child labor and school dropouts as a research subject and to document the goals of the PP approach. Based on a successful experience between ITQANE and Al Akhawayn University, the Education Specialist had encouragement from Al Akhawayn officials for this new venture. Meanwhile, PP is still pursuing its efforts to establish a partnership to mainstream child labor research into research departments of Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech.

It was expected that the International Initiative to End Child Labor (IIECL) would assist in building the capacity of labor inspectors and other key stakeholders in task mapping methods that enable improved identification of hazardous occupations. It is expected that IIECL, together with Kuder, an international leader in career counseling, will develop Career Pathway Guidance materials that explain available pathways in simple terms that facilitate youth and family career decisions regarding employment and livelihood planning. This should improve access to social services for households by adding to the availability of information about relevant services and strengthening the coordination between both public and private service providers. Unfortunately the evaluator was unable to meet anyone from either the IIECL or Kuder. The project is currently planning an IIECL mission, with the participation of the Directorate of Labor, to discuss their collaboration with the PP project.

3.4 Monitoring System and Sustainability

Question 12: Please conduct small sample data verification between the numbers the project has reported in TPRs, and the data collected through their CMEP indicators.

All indicators are consistent in the most recent TPR, from October 2015. The number of beneficiaries enrolled has been compared with monitoring data collected by PP on its beneficiary population, and was largely in agreement.

Household surveys conducted during the baseline contain very important data because they identify the actual degree of vulnerability and poverty of families. Although there was some evidence that some children were added to the groups who may not have been the priority (i.e. children with good academic performance), the randomization process appears to have been executed as expected.

Question 13: Is the project following the monitoring procedures as described in their CMEP documents?

Project monitoring is done according to the procedures described in the CMEP. The evaluator inquired about the updating of indicators, the project said it plans to deliver this by the end of March. It was not ready at the time of the evaluation, but the project subsequently reported that an update of indicators and performance monitoring was completed as planned in April 2016.

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The project is implementing a Direct Beneficiary Monitoring System (DBMS) to track the individual progress of each beneficiary, which was developed by Creative’s technology development partner, Morocco Trade and Development Services (MTDS). While this was developed as an individual monitoring tool, at the time of the evaluation the tool is not complete with individual plans for each beneficiary. According to the Project Manager in Morocco, at the time of the evaluation the DBMS was missing the service monitoring form due to problems with the synchronization of data between the web-based and mobile monitoring modules.

The DBMS integrates the same information contained in the government’s Massar system as well as additional data related to families. The Massar system is a computer program created by the Moroccan government, released in June 2013, which facilitates school management and operations by tracking student data. It also allows parents to learn about their children’s school schedules, absences, grades, and even the risk of drop-out through an online portal. In some geographic areas the project linked the DBMS and the Massar system, but to date this has not been done in all areas. For the first cohort, the Massar database was used in Chichaoua, as the provincial representatives from MEN were active and involved. The Massar database was used fully for cohort two, among other existing government information systems. Linking the DBMS and the Massar system would save time for the project and allow the government to use the system for purposes beyond its current use. The project stated that this would eventually be implemented.

Interviewees pointed to some uncertainty as to how the DBMS should evolve, and in particular, how to ensure the further development and sustainability of this component. The evaluation recommends reviewing the transition strategy for the DBMS and assessing how to ensure connection and cooperation between labor inspectors, local authorities, and community activists. In this regard, it would be useful to consider how to ensure the sustainability of applications used by the partners so that they continue reporting on child labor after the discontinuation of project services.

The DBMS has multiple access levels. At this time, only project case managers have been provided access to the DBMS, as they have been trained in data quality assurance and in ensuring that beneficiary data remains confidential. This affects the sustainability of the system. Youth individualized education and employment plans (called “pathways”) are paper based and are developed and updated by case managers. The project’s system has the function to upload the plans as they are updated to the DBMS system; however, it is not yet known which method is more efficient with regard to time and resources.

It is important to monitor children’s work on weekends and school holidays to ensure that they are not relapsing into exploitative work, long working hours, or work that affects their access to education. The monitoring system follows children every day, but just in school; if they are absent, the case-manager looks for the cause and then takes them back to school. In the evening when they come home from school, parents ask them to help with housework or farm work. While PP provides activities during weekends and holidays, it does not systematically track children’s work status during these breaks. It may be useful to see whether it is possible to more closely monitor the work that beneficiaries are doing outside school hours (including during holidays) to ensure that they are not involved in exploitive child labor.

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According to the staff responsible for the project’s M&E, there are quite a large number of indicators in the CMEP and it has been difficult to manage all of the required data collection without additional staff support. The management of beneficiaries requires a significantly larger amount of time and human resources than what was allocated by the project. As shown in Annex 1, a number of indicators are not completed at the time of the evaluation.

According to the M&E Specialist, a method to compare the data to a given standard is needed in order to calibrate the tools. The project is currently developing these standards for the project’s monitoring tools, such as: Apprenticeship Contract (which includes a training schedule); Apprenticeship Training Form and Apprenticeship Training Follow-up Form; Pre–Training Needs Assessment Form; Post Evaluation Form; and Student School Booklet. It is urgent to complete the calibration of these tools in order to continue the educational activities.

Efforts should be made to explicitly articulate the project components so that there is greater correspondence, cohesion, and continuity among the different levels of action of the project. For example, one project component works with families while another component works with children in such families. It is important for the persons implementing each activity to be aware the other activities provided to household members and share results and challenges if necessary. Case managers who work with the same households meet regularly to discuss progress of target members in the same family, but this coordination should not be limited to case managers. For instance, the horizontal cooperation, training, and awareness raising should be prioritized by the project’s key partners in each province (i.e. EN).

The PP project did not publically provide information on its activities or the network of referral services through the internet, and this was a missed opportunity. The use of a website as a tool for communication would save time and allow the project to reach the target populations more easily. It could also improve the performance of teachers who work with target children by providing educational tools, and improve coordination between the different stakeholders by serving as a platform for communication and creating links with the labor market. Furthermore, the majority of respondents consider the use and dissemination of publications produced by the project to be insufficient. Several interviewees, especially at the central level, would like to stay abreast of project activities, such as via a website.

Question 14: What is the nature of the project’s relationship with local civil society and government partners? Have these partners’ commitment to combatting child labor increased as a result of the project?

According to the project, the success in setting up the wrap around services, with tight coordination mechanisms between local players supported by provincial programs and managed by their regional entities, is a key to sustaining the PP model to fight child labor. The mobilization of national, provincial and local stakeholders covers more than 40 partners. The project has involved all institutions which work on child labor; therefore the solutions were rewarded by every partner’s idea.

The exchange between participants from different sectors, facilitated by the project, is recent and much appreciated. Having EN, DENF, the Labor Department and the Ministry of National Education and Professional Training (MNEFP) operate in the same location permitted more work to be done for child protection. Discussion was conducted about how to address child

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labor, with various governmental and non-governmental institutions looking into the best solutions.

However, the project’s relationship with civil society is not structured regarding deliverables, timelines, and contingency plans, except with the NGO Al Karam. PP has agreements with many local associations which outline clear roles and responsibilities defined for PP and the partner organizations. Nevertheless, some of these agreements do not oblige the associations to produce particular results. It explains who does what, but does not indicate what will be done if the association does not achieve results.

The project has good relations with its partners in the Moroccan government, but they all asked to be made more aware of project activities through periodic meetings. The provincial level wants to participate in the planning. The institutional level wants to be associated with the activities and the identification of beneficiaries. Teachers and trainers are the weakest link in the chain. Those who have learned much through this project are the case managers.

While the project partners with an array of stakeholders, the most useful partnership to date is with the Center for Training and Qualification in the Crafts Sector. This center offers excursions to historical monuments and works on drug prevention. It also addresses the issue of job placements for children, and they have even made exceptions for young people who were not eligible for vocational training. Unfortunately this center only works with young people in Marrakech.

Entraide Nationale has supported the project in the mobilization of associations, the recruitment of children for registration in Dar Taliba, and in enrollment in vocational training centers for those who are eligible. OFPPT and EN are collaborating with PP to offer training in the three provinces, and when there is no training center they reach out to beneficiaries through mobile units. In addition, EN has implemented a new vocational training stream on auto mechanics. The difference between these partners and the Center for Training and Qualification in the Crafts Sector is that they do not simultaneously take into account youth training and learning the craft as well as their placement into the labor market.

EN’s flagship trademark in working within a linkage model is the social worker. The social worker, according to EN, is the resource person to pool all efforts for child protection and the fight against child labor. These social workers are temporary employees of the project. PP is keeping abreast on the developments related to institutionalizing the child protection units and will consolidate the role of social workers there in order to coordinate the various services for children and families in the future. However, this mechanism remains frail as long as it is not formalized by the Ministry of Social Development as a federating unit for other services coming from various state sectors. MNEFP hopes to link this project with the Child to Child and Youth Speak projects. Youth Speak is being adapted to include child labor-related issues and will begin in September.

The Moroccan Labor Department stated that PP’s work is relevant. Labor Department staff explained that as they remove the children from work, they carry out no other actions or follow up. The Director of Labor recommends the implementation of a National Steering Committee that could meet and share information at least three times a year and hold interim meetings to readjust strategies if necessary.

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The Labor Department is currently designing a by-law on domestic work, including maids. They had requested the project team to identify additional types of hazardous tasks, especially in agriculture since the majority of children come from rural areas. These activities are in the PP work plan and are part of the agreed deliverables with the IIECL. The first part of this work was implemented during the PRLMA study, which helped identify the work sites and types of hazardous work in the PP localities. However, remaining phases of implementing this task and conducting risk analysis activities with IIECL are delayed, as PP postponed the IIECL mission that was planned for March 2016 due to activities related to the audit and the interim evaluation. Working with the IIECL was scheduled in the initial project proposal. Indeed, the project had worked on this when it began; however, during the evaluation, no activity was planned with IIECL. The PP COP and Livelihoods Specialist recently had an update meeting to prepare for IIECL interventions.

Many joint ventures were set up locally and facilitated by the project. For instance, in Ourika village of Al Haouz, PP facilitated a joint agreement between OFPPT, Ourika commune and a federation of local associations, whereby OFPPT provided a mobile training structure to train 80 PP youth beneficiaries on car mechanics. The project also initiated similar efforts which included organizing local stakeholders to participate in responding to locally lacking services through their own initiative and cost.

Authorities reporting to the Interior Ministry interviewed by the evaluator reiterated their support as partners in the project. They also offer assistance for vocational training in some locations, such as Marrakech, and provide other assistance as required.

Institutional changes have affected the project with regard to its two key project components: education and livelihoods. There have also been many new appointments among Moroccan Government stakeholders, which have affected project implementation. There were originally sixteen administrative regions; now there are only twelve. AREF also changed status during the project implementation period. The project experiences bureaucratic challenges and a resistance to change when intending to organize an activity. When working with new stakeholders, each time the project has to explain the goals of the activity and convince the new stakeholders before it could be implemented.

According to the project, since the time of the evaluation fieldwork, PP has taken measures to strengthen the sustainability of the project activities. PP methodological approaches have been introduced and are being used by local partners. Local associations and partners in rural areas were trained on the PAVE methodology for beneficiary management and monitoring as well as the participatory community approach. PP also facilitated the set-up of vocational training mobile units, mainly supported by the local communes. Apprenticeship programs are coordinated by EN and local associations’ centers, which sets up a structure for the training to continue after project life. New training areas were initiated in some EN vocational training centers and are ongoing. Likewise, a four part capacity building strategy has been developed, including the early warning system, psychological support, life skills and Youth Speak. The project began the early warning system to address school dropout, enrolling 188 partners who are interested in discussing and adapting its content.

As of March 2016, the number of experts trained in each province or institution had not yet reached a critical mass sufficient for future sustainability. For example, Al Karam has limited

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human resources and the PP team includes time of the Executive Director, two case managers and a coordinator, who all participate in PP trainings. Meanwhile, only one staff person has been trained in EN, which is not enough for establishing sustainability.

However, PP has not identified who will take over the responsibilities for implementing aspects of the project activities in the future as part of the sustainability measures. The project needs to have a sustainability plan to specify:

• Who will be in charge of activities in the future?

• Where will the database be hosted?

• Who will continue to form and print the guides and materials?

• Who will continue to use the computer application that is in the tablet? Are tablets needed?

• Who will complete the work with the last cohort?

DBMS is the dashboard that will guide the progress of beneficiaries, and the project plans for this to be used by the main stakeholders, including some associations such as Al Karam. The Ministry of Education is interested in using the DBMS to consolidate the Massar system, and EN is interested in using it to monitor its beneficiaries. They expect that the same committees will use DBMS to continue project activities. The various state departments will agree on how to convene a budget and the source of funding for its functioning as well as their technology resources for DBMS management and updates as well as potential website management. The greatest difficulty for the government is the individualized monitoring of beneficiaries and development of clear actions for each case. The PP project should help stakeholders acquire and/or implement their monitoring and evaluation tools to improve their decision-making and track child labor.

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IV. CONCLUSIONS

The objective of the Promise Pathways project is to decrease the incidence of child labor, improve pathways towards decent work, and build family resilience in alignment within the priorities of the Government of Morocco. Creative has designed a complex and ambitious project strategy with numerous activities and services related to education, livelihoods and capacity building. Initially, the project experienced some delays, such as the time it took to sign the agreement between Creative and the Moroccan government, the time needed for awareness and capacity building of the local associations who are serving as new partners, the departure of the Education Specialist, etc. Now, the project seems to be catching up through strategies such as recruiting case managers who live in the same target provinces, and is offering an important set of services to the communities.

Despite some continued challenges, especially at the level of sustainability, most respondents agree that this is a relevant project with effective strategies and a relevant theory of change. The main result of the project to date is that many children have returned to school or vocational training, and many parents are aware of and work toward keeping their children involved in educational activities and out of child labor. The PP project meets the needs of the Moroccan government and its policies in the fight against child labor. It has also led to a growing understanding of child labor in the project implementation areas; for example, the MOESA will be defining some especially hazardous work tasks in agriculture based on the findings of the PP project. It has also instilled hope among the youth for training so that they can acquire vocational skills and improve their livelihood situation in the years to come.

The project faces two remaining challenges. First, while the project may reach their projected targets, the results may not demonstrate the level of quality expected due to the reduced period of implementation experienced after the initial delays. A project extension may help the PP project to be able to achieve the desired quality of activities. Secondly, the project must address and manage the expectations of beneficiaries who wish to have accommodation, transport, income improvement, and access to the labor market before the end of the project. It is beyond the PP project capacity to provide this for every beneficiary.

Despite the richness of the project’s approach, some missing elements could be reinforced during the second half of the project implementation, such as the pedagogical follow-up and better support for secondary school children. Improving the educational follow-up could include the identification of students’ difficulties and a structured remediation proposal. Students must also be tested before and after receiving support in order to verify the effect of providing educational interventions. Remedial teaching and tutoring programs are underway, and school enrichment and life skills are part of the PP work plan. PP, along with parents’ associations and local associations, launched a tutoring and accompaniment program for PP students. It is also very important to choose safe solutions with regard to transportation and accommodation.

Finally, a fundamental axis of the project’s strategy that should be reinforced is the technical assistance provided for national and local entities (both governmental and non-governmental entities) by the executing team, since it has substantially expanded their technical capacities. This includes individual monitoring of each child and working with households to persuade

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them not to send their children to work. Therefore, the project should ensure, before it ends, that the key partners are able to sustain their activities. Creative should reposition and disengage gradually from operating activities and take a strategic position, letting national and regional institutions conduct activities by themselves. Most partners estimated a need for continuous support over time to sustain the satisfactory results of the project. The project is able to have a leading status in addressing child labor due to the specificity of its focus and ability to consolidate local expertise. This will allow for better sustainability of the project at the local level.

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V. LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES

5.1 Lessons Learned

The following are some lessons learned by the PP project:

• Supplies provided to children can be sufficient to help them return to school in the short term. Sometimes, however, it can also be seen as a rather reductionist strategy if the situation of underlying poverty is not addressed and in cases when the PP project does not provide all services for each child, such as in Ichmraren where there are no services available to which the project can refer beneficiaries. The supplies could also be adapted to individual needs for better effectiveness; for example, providing gender-specific services in order to improve girls’ attendance in secondary school. In addition, the quality and durability of the materials supplied must be monitored.

• It is necessary to ensure continuous monitoring and assessment of project strategies during the implementation process in order to adapt to shifting needs and realities. In particular, early adaptation to a changing institutional environment would be beneficial. Therefore, the ability to quickly design or reallocate strategies and/or to act quickly on needs would be advantageous, such as school feeding programs or health insurance. Whatever the decision (further remedial program activities/interruption; allow/do not allow payment of the school feeding program and health insurance for the project beneficiaries), it is important to reach a solution quickly in order not to burden the implementation and allow new strategies to evolve as a response to the initial decision.

• It is important to monitor children’s work on weekends and school holidays, to ensure that they are not relapsing into exploitative work, long working hours, or work that affects their access to education. In the evening when they come home from school, parents may ask them to help in housework or farm work, especially in rural areas. It is important to sensitize parents on the importance of doing homework after completing the school day in the classroom.

• Relying on free services or complementary funds/projects, financed by different donors, can result in difficult situations with regard to financing and coordination. If the need for services is not identified early, some organizations cannot provide these services because there is no budget allocated for such purpose; they must wait until the following year to integrate the need in their budget.

• Research activities can often take longer than originally planned. To date, no agreement with the University has been reached. The academic year is like the school year and there are periods when it is not in session. The project plans to tailor the scope of research to the project’s remaining timeframe.

• It can be time consuming to come to an agreement with the government to implement activities, and this can result in a shortened duration of project implementation. During this time new opportunities, information, legislation, resources or obstacles might occur.

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5.2 Good Practices

• Creative is working at multiple levels to address the needs of government and regional authorities, as well as district and sector authorities. It is also working at school and community levels. This strategy multiplies the venues for awareness-raising and increases the likelihood of an impact.

• There is a strong contribution made by the case managers and community activists as change agents in monitoring beneficiaries and raising awareness about the child labor situation in the community through the DBMS. This is an effective way of involving local authorities in both surveillance and the child labor situation at the local level.

• Target areas are often isolated. The nearest medical services are dozens of kilometers away, which made the medical caravans appreciated by households.

• The case managers have proven to be effective due to the high rate of community support and their local knowledge of students and their backgrounds. It is conducive to effective monitoring because students who are absent from school can be visited and counseled more readily. In addition, the verification process provides a comprehensive check of schools and beneficiaries through confirmation of their age, class, attendance, knowledge of child labor and student performance, as well as the progress of school committees and community-based child labor monitors.

• The school support program is a comprehensive approach to school improvement that includes technical support, management guidance, training, awareness raising on child labor and child protection issues, some classroom or structural rehabilitation, such as latrines, and the provision of equipment and materials. Its focus on quality education also includes community and student participation, where the activities are for the ultimate benefit of all students.

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VI. RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Key Recommendations

The evaluation provides nine core recommendations to improve effectiveness and sustainability during the remaining period of implementation.

For the PP project team:

1. Review project targets and determine which planned activities can be feasibly conducted with a satisfactory level of quality in the current implementation context, in order to make up for the initial project delays. Focus more on the zones where the PP could provide better services.

2. Recalibrate the budget in view of a changing implementation environment and identify the needs of project beneficiaries and stakeholders. Focus more on the zones with more potential to succeed, and on children. Allow the Education and Livelihoods Specialists to view the budget figures in order to facilitate planning.

3. Continue looking into supporting the sustainability of the DBMS by integrating it with the Massar system, to ensure that partners and stakeholders continue reporting on child labor after the discontinuation of project services.

4. Review the direct monitoring of beneficiaries. It may be useful to see whether it is possible to better monitor the work that beneficiaries are doing outside school hours, including during holidays, to ensure that they are not involved in exploitive child labor.

5. Establish a National Steering Committee, which would meet every four months. Since multiple sectors are related to child labor issues, it is recommended that this be proposed by the project, which would seek approval from the stakeholders and develop committee procedures. According to various Moroccan officials, the formation of such a committee would make them better at monitoring and adjusting their activities as necessary.

6. Continue developing the project’s sustainability plan and risk management plans. This includes consolidating and institutionalizing the various trainings received by case managers, development agents and social workers in order to support the sustainability of the project model. They are willing to sustain the model and are learning from trainings and field experience.

7. Renegotiate the agreement with Al Karam. Al Karam has good resource people and useful tools for the project, and this partnership is not being used to its optimal potential. While it is understaffed at the moment, the staff persons still have all the skills to sustain the entire process of the project on a small scale. They can later train others in partnership with the Government of Morocco. Al Karam can also assist the project with troubleshooting challenges, as they are accustomed to working within the constraints of the Moroccan context.

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8. Enhance the visibility and influence of the PP project by creating a website to use as a tool for communicating about the project and the network of referral services. This would facilitate coordination between stakeholders working on relevant issues and the access to referral networks for other poor non-beneficiaries who could benefit from similar services.

For USDOL:

9. Explore the possibility of an extension and additional budget in order to provide project support until the end of the third school year (i.e. to the end of 2018).

6.2 Other Recommendations for the PP Project

• Provide more rapid communication with government organizations, of a more informal nature that is similar to those applied in the private sector, in order to support the efficient and successful implementation of the project.

• Encourage more frequent communication between the teams working on different aspects of the project, in order to integrate the program as a whole and ensure internal consistency.

• Focus more attention on children who are not enrolled in middle school. Some schools have many tools for preventing dropouts but no one knows how to bring children back to school if they are not enrolled at the start of the school year.

• Reflect on and suggest solutions for girls who succeed in middle school and want to go to high school. There is no mechanism helping them to enroll in the secondary schools. This situation pushed PP and the stakeholders to invite debate and encourage the proposal of concrete solutions to help the concerned students.

• Use the guides and modules from other projects of other agencies, such as ITQANE, ALEF, and Child to Child, and adapt them to the needs of the project area. This will respond to Principle 5 of the HCZ approach. The Senior Education Specialist, on board in January 2016, is mindful of using the guides and modules from other agencies, but had not yet begun to do so at the time of the evaluation.

• Establish an incentive for case managers and teams of students/trainees for those bringing target children to register, or be retained in, school or vocational training. Case managers have no obligation of result, although they are paid. Those who achieve the best result should be motivated via awards. Incentives can be in the form of a cell phone, or a laptop, printer, hard drive, etc.

• Support the coordination between employers and institutions by establishing partnership agreements in the school plan. This helps with identifying internships in companies. Students will better understand some trades and entrepreneurship if they can visit a site or if a contractor can explain to them about business.

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ANNEX 1: Quantitative Overview of Project Progress

Area Indicators with Oct 2015 (or Most Recent) Targets and Most Recent Actuals

Project Objective: Incidence of Child Labor in Target Districts Reduced

POC.1 Percentage of children in child labor

Target 40% Actual 19%

POC.2 Percentage of children in hazardous child labor

Target 10% Actual 52%

POH.1 Percentage of households with children in child labor

Target 60% Actual 56%

POH.2 Percentage of households with children in hazardous child labor

Target 20% Actual Data not yet available

POH.3 Percentage of households with all children of compulsory school age in school

Target 50%

Actual Data not yet available IO 1 Increased participation in quality education among children engaged in or at-risk of

child labor

SO 1.1 Improved access and retention of children in education programs

OTC 1. Percentage of target at-risk students retained in school

Target 50 Actual Data not yet available

OTC 2. Percentage of target dropout children reintegrated in formal schooling

Target 10

Actual Data not yet available OTP 1. Percentage of target children in formal education assisted by integrated support programs

Target 70

Actual Data not yet available OTP 2. Percentage of target children in formal education with successful individual education and employment plans

Target 50

Actual Data not yet available

OTP 3. Percentage of target children with successful individual education and employment plans in non-formal education

Target 50

Actual Data not yet available

SO 1.2 Improved quality of education services

OTC 3. Completion rate of 6th grade in target schools

Target 65 Actual Data not yet available

OTC 4. Completion rate of target children in project-supported NFE programs

Target 70

Actual Data not yet available OTC 5. Percentage of target children that regularly attended any form of education during the past six (6) months, with 75% attendance in their education program over the six months reporting period

Target 2170

Actual 1,888 87 %; (46% F; 41% M)

OTP 4. Percentage of children in target schools reporting being victims of violence perpetrated by their teachers during the last six months

Target 6 %

Actual Data not yet available

OTP 5. Number of associations involved in NFE receiving capacity building support from the project

Target 8

Actual 5 OTP 6. Percentage of school teachers in target school clusters participating in educational support capacity-building

Target 101

Actual 187

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Area Indicators with Oct 2015 (or Most Recent) Targets and Most Recent Actuals

workshops OTP 7. Number of NFE teachers who participate in training programs in target communities.

Target 30

Actual 18 IO 2 Decreased dependence on child labor for livelihoods in target households

SO 2.1 Increased access of youth (15-17 years old) to a diversified job market

OTC 6. Percentage of target youth (15-17 years old) who secure a job or start an independent income generating activity as a result of project services

Target 35 %

Actual 0%

OTP 8. Percentage of youth (15-17 years old) who complete apprenticeship programs

Target 35 %

Actual 0 % OTP 9. Number of market assessments undertaken with project support in target zones

Target 4

Actual 7

SO 2.2 Improved access of target households to social protection programs

OTC 7. Percentage of target households covered by at least one social program as a result of project services

Target 50%

Actual Data not yet available OTP 10. Percentage of target households that are successfully referred by PP for social protection assistance

Target 35 %

Actual Data not yet available

SO 2.3 Increased income among target households

OTC 8. Percentage of target households reporting an increase in assets as a result of project services

Target 50%

Actual Data not yet available OTP 11. Percentage of target households that strengthen revenue generating activity as a result of project support

Target 10%

Actual Data not yet available

OTP 12. Percentage of target households with access to new clients for their services and products

Target TBD

Actual N/A OTP 13. Percentage of target households with access to credit or other forms of microfinance

Target 10%

Actual Data not yet available OTP 14. Percentage of target households acquiring skills facilitating improvement of their productive activities

Target 10%

Actual Data not yet available

IO 3 Contribution of institutional environment to the elimination of child labor is improved

SO 3.1 Improved capacity of relevant government agencies in target zones to contribute to the elimination of child labor

OTC 9. Number of targeted government institutions in target zones that carry out specific actions to eliminate child labor

Target 48

Actual 25

OTP 15. Number of CL cases detected and addressed by Labor inspectors in target zones

Target 100

Actual 0 OTP 16. Number of child labor cases detected and addressed by child protection coordination structures in target zones

Target 180

Actual 0

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Area Indicators with Oct 2015 (or Most Recent) Targets and Most Recent Actuals

OTP 17. Number of cases where children at risk of school dropout are addressed by School Watch Committees in target schools

Target 328

Actual 10

OTP 18. Number of target zones where coordination structures conduct CL prevention activities

Target 6

Actual 8

SO 3.2 Increased capacity of civil society organizations in advocacy and service provision regarding child labor

OTC 10. Number of target children that receive services offered by targeted CSOs

Target 600

Actual 1947 OTP 19. Number of advocacy actions to fight child labor led by CSOs in target communities

Target 36

Actual 17 OTP 20. Percentage of target households where at least one adult member has participated in awareness-raising activities organized by CSOs

Target 75

Actual 0

OCFT Common Indicators

OCFT Common Indicators: Education

E.1 Number of children engaged in or at high-risk of entering child labor provided education or vocational services (per sex and age)

Target 5533

Actual 3303 (1665 M, 1368 F)

E.2 Number of children engaged in or at high-risk of entering child labor enrolled in formal education services provided education or vocational services (per sex and age)

Target 3294

Actual 2391 (1298 M, 1093 F)

E.3 Number of children engaged in or at high-risk of entering child labor enrolled in non-formal education services provided education or vocational services (per sex and age)

Target 823

Actual 203 (132M, 71F)

E.4 Number of children engaged in or at high-risk of entering child labor provided vocational services (per sex and age)

Target 1133

Actual 452 (247 M, 205 F)

OCFT Common Indicators: Livelihoods

L.1 Number of households receiving livelihood services

Target 1016

Actual 194

L.2 Number of adults provided with employment services (per sex)

Target 205

Actual 174 (154M, 20 F) L.3 Number of children of legal working age provided with employment services (other than vocational training or microfinance) (per sex)

Target 450

Actual 60 (37M, 23 F)

L.4 # of individuals provided with economic strengthening services (per sex)

Target 412

Actual 6 (6M, 0F)

L.5 Number of individuals provided with services other than employment or economic strengthening (per sex)

Target 399

Actual 107 (80M. 27F)

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ANNEX 2: Evaluation Itinerary

DATES AND LOCATIONS March, Monday 14 Rabat – Central Level Meetings March, Tuesday 15 Casablanca - Marrakech March, Wednesday 16 Marrakech, regional representations March, Thursday 17 Haouz – Tahanaout and Ourika March, Friday 18 Marrakech March, Saturday 19 Marrakech March, Sunday 20 March, Monday 21 Chichaoua March, Tuesday 22 Al Haouz – Siti Fadma March, Wednesday 23 Chichaoua March, Thursday 24 Marrakech March, Friday 25 Marrakech March, Saturday 26 March, Sunday 27 March, Monday 28 Stakeholders’ Meeting

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ANNEX 3: List of Stakeholders Interviewed

This page is intentionally left blank in accordance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002, Public Law 107-347.

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ANNEX 4: Project Partners and Activities

List of all project partners:

• Agriculture;

• Al Amana;

• ANAPEC;

• Authorities;

• Boarding;

• CGEM or other;

• Chambers of commerce;

• Crafts;

• Dar Talibas: housing for students;

• Elected;

• Entraide Nationale ;

• INDH;

• Middle Schools;

• Ministry of Labor;*

• Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training;*

• Mohamed V Foundation;

• More than 20 associations;

• OFPPT;

• Primary Schools;

• The food bank;

• The informal vocational training classes;

• The justice, sometimes;

• The NGO Al Karam;

• Tourism;

• Vocational training institutions;

*AREF, Provincial Directions

*Labor Inspector

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Project activities include:

• Dropout prevention

• Enrollment in vocational training

• Extracurricular activities

• Instructional support activities

• Providing services to households: AGR and cooperative

• Providing services to households: ANAPEC

• Providing services to households: Birth Certificate

• Providing services to households: Medical caravan

• Providing services to households: Microcredit

• Providing services to households: RAMED map

• Providing services to households: Supplies for FP, school

• Providing services to households: Transportation

• Providing services to households: Widows, divorcees ...

• Psychosocial support activities

• Removing youth from their jobs, if hazardous

• Reintegrate students in non-formal education programs

• Reintegrate students who dropped out

• Reintegrate students who were not enrolled at the beginning of the year

• Train stakeholders

• Work with Dar Talibas

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ANNEX 5: List of Documents Reviewed

ANNEX A October TPR_2015 Annex A USDOL OCFT Common Indicators Spreadsheet- Reporting period July 2015 Annex D Response to Donor Comments Annex F PP PROJECT PLAN January 2016 FINAL State of sites System evaluation follow-up ENF Morocco June 2013;Jean Pierre Jarousse and Ali Benddine FINAL USDOL Morocco Project Document Submission May 2014 IL-25261-14-75K Promise Pathways TPR July 2015 -signed cover. IL-25261- Executed. List of indicators follow up ENF.pdf June 2013; Jean Pierre Jarousse and Ali Benddine Morocco PP CMEP - Final version Dec 2014. Oct TPR 2014 Morocco_Creative_USDOL Comments. Oct TPR 2014 Morocco_Creative_USDOL Comments. PP DRAFT PROJECT PLAN DATE 16 February 2015 Harmonized TPR Report Promise Pathways TPR February 2015 FINAL Promise Pathways TPR July 2015 Promise Pathways TPR October 2015 Promise Pathways TPR Report April 2015. Promise Pathways Baseline Final Report August 2015. REACH-T Rwanda Education alternatives for children in tea growing areas- Interim Evaluation Report 2-18-16 Final REVISED Morocco Creative Oct 2014 TPR Status summary of enrollment and service delivery Summary table Summary table filled out Target Table Means of Subsistence Chichaoua TPR Annex B TPR Annex F. TPR Annex B - Oct-2015 TPR Annex B Creative Oct TPR 2014 final TPR May 2015 TPR-1 April 2014. USDOL Comments April 2015 Morocco Creative USDOL Comments Oct 2015 Morocco Creative USDOL OCFT 2013 Common Indicators Spreadsheet- 5-8-2014. USDOL OCFT 2013 Management Procedures and Guidelines MPG USDOL OCFTCommon Indicators Spreadsheet- Reporting period April 2015. Youth-focused_Labor_Market_STUDY_REPORT_ENGLISH_September 2010 USAID MOROCCO

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ANNEX 6: Evaluation Terms of Reference

TERMS OF REFERENCE

for the

Independent Interim Evaluation

of

Promise Pathways Project

Combating Exploitative Child Labor

in

MOROCCO

Cooperative Agreement Number: IL-25261-14-75-K

Financing Agency:

Grantee Organization:

Dates of Project Implementation:

U.S. Department of Labor

Creative Associates International

31 December 2013 – 31 December 2017

Type of Evaluation: Independent Interim Evaluation

Evaluation Field Work Dates: March 14-28, 2016

Preparation Date of TOR: February 2016

Total Project Funds from USDOL Based on Cooperative Agreement:

US $4,998,430.00

Vendor for the Evaluation Contract:

Dwight Ordoñez: dwightor@gmail.com

Azure Maset: azure.maset@gmail.com

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ACRONYMS CA Creative Associates International CAHR Children at high risk of child labor CL Child Labor CMEP Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan CRC UN Convention on the Rights of the Child CSO Civil Society Organization DNFE Direction of Non-formal Education FY Fiscal Year HH Household ILAB USDOL Bureau of International Labor Affairs ILO International Labour Organization IO Intermediate Objective M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MESA Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs NFE Non-formal Education NGO Nongovernmental Organization OCFT USDOL Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking PP Promise Pathways SFS Sistemas, Familias y Sociedad – Consultores Asociados SO Supporting Objective SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Exercise ToC Theory of Change TOR Terms of Reference TPR Technical Progress Report USDOL United States Department of Labor WFCL Worst Forms of Child Labor

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I. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION USDOL – OCFT

The Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT) is an office within the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL). OCFT activities include research on international child labor (CL); supporting U.S. government policy on international child labor; administering and overseeing cooperative agreements with organizations working to eliminate child labor around the world; and raising awareness about child labor issues.

Since 1995, the U.S. Congress has appropriated over $900 million to USDOL for efforts to combat exploitive child labor internationally. This funding has been used to support technical cooperation projects to combat exploitive child labor in more than 90 countries around the world. Technical cooperation projects funded by USDOL range from targeted action programs in specific sectors of work to more comprehensive programs that support national efforts to eliminate child labor. USDOL-funded child labor elimination projects generally seek to achieve five major goals:

1. Reducing exploitative child labor, especially the worst forms (WFCL) through the provision of direct educational services and by addressing root causes of child labor, including innovative strategies to promote sustainable livelihoods of target households;

2. Strengthening policies on child labor, education, and sustainable livelihoods, and the capacity of national institutions to combat child labor, address its root causes, and promote formal, non-formal (NFE) and vocational education opportunities to provide children with alternatives to child labor;

3. Raising awareness of exploitative child labor and its root causes, and the importance of education for all children and mobilizing a wide array of actors to improve and expand education infrastructures;

4. Supporting research, evaluation, and the collection of reliable data on child labor, its root causes, and effective strategies, including educational and vocational alternatives, microfinance and other income generating activities to improve household income; and

5. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of these efforts.

The approach of USDOL child labor elimination projects – decreasing the prevalence of exploitive child labor through increased access to education and improving the livelihoods of vulnerable families – is intended to nurture the development, health, safety, and enhanced future employability of children engaged in or at-risk of entering exploitive labor.

USDOL-funded child labor elimination projects are designed to ensure that children in areas with a high incidence of child labor are withdrawn and integrated into educational settings, and that they persist in their education once enrolled. In parallel, projects seek to avert at-risk children from

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leaving school and entering child labor. The projects are based on the notion that the elimination of exploitative child labor depends, to a large extent, on improving access to, quality of, and relevance of education. Without improving educational quality and relevance, children withdrawn/prevented from child labor may not have viable alternatives and could resort to other forms of hazardous work.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, Congress provided new authority to ILAB to expand activities related to income generating activities, including microfinance, to help projects expand income generation and address poverty more effectively. The addition of this livelihood focus is based on the premise that if adult family members have sustainable livelihoods, they will be less likely to have their dependent children work and more likely to keep them to school.

The approach of USDOL child labor elimination projects – decreasing the prevalence of exploitive child labor through increased access to education and improving the livelihoods of vulnerable families – is intended to nurture the development, health, safety, and enhanced future employability of children engaged in or at-risk of entering exploitive labor.

Project Context2

While the Moroccan High Commission for Planning’s 2013 labor survey indicates a steady decline in the incidence of child labor over the last decade, children in Morocco are still engaged in child labor and hazardous child labor. Child labor occurs in urban areas, but it is primarily a rural phenomenon and is concentrated in areas where education levels remain low. The Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz region, where the Promise Pathways project is being implemented by Creative Associates International, is the largest rural and third most populous region and is one of the top four regions with the highest rates of child labor in Morocco. The Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz Region was chosen for the following reasons: (1) it possesses the largest rural population and number of households in the country; (2) it ranks second nationally in primary school (5.1% per annum) and secondary school dropouts (12.9% per annum); and (3) it ranks sixth in rural poverty and represents a significant slice of the rural poor. This region is home to 3.1 million inhabitants who comprise 10.4% of the national population.

In conducting its assessment and applying provincial rural poverty rates, Creative Associates estimates that 49,000 children live below the poverty line in this region and that a similar number are vulnerable to falling into poverty. Many of the approximately 100,000 poor and vulnerable children (up to 14% of the youth population) are already working or are at great risk of becoming child laborers. During 2013 research conducted by Morocco’s High Commission for Planning, some children stated that they did not attend school because they were obligated to work in order to contribute to the family income.

2 Adapted from the Promise Pathways CMEP and USDOL ILAB’s 2014 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Morocco, available at http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/Morocco.htm

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With regard to sectoral and task distribution of child labor, in agriculture children are engaged in planting and harvesting crops, herding livestock, farming, fishing and forestry. In industry, children work in construction, weaving textiles and in the production or artisanal crafts. Children are also engaged in domestic work and forced domestic work, sometimes as a result of human trafficking, and forced labor in the production of artisanal crafts and construction. Children, primarily boys, are also engaged in commercial sexual exploitation. This problem is most prevalent in popular sites such as Agadir, Marrakech, and Tangier, which attract tourists from the Persian Gulf and Europe.

Many factors contribute to child labor in Morocco, including the availability and quality of education and other social services, the socioeconomic resources available to households, and the capacity of the institutional and community environment. The latter is particularly visible in the difficulty faced by the government in mobilizing the required resources to roll out education and economic services and to enforce national labor laws prohibiting child labor. Promise Pathways has identified four clusters of contributing problems: (a) limited access to quality education in the Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz region, (b) households and youth living with limited socio-cultural resources and capacity to participate in their development, (c) the limited capacity of government institutions to implement effective policies and actions to respond to child labor, and (d) the limited capacity of civil society organizations to implement efforts to prevent and eliminate child labor.

Despite strong enrollment rates in the early years of primary school, school dropout rates remain a problem, with 2011-2012 reports stating that as many as 65% of children in Morocco had failed to complete the 9 years of compulsory schooling. Dropout rates for primary and secondary school in this southern region are the country’s second highest. Children in the rural and peri-urban areas work as agricultural laborers, apprentices, peddlers, domestic laborers and sex workers. The needs assessment that Creative Associates conducted in 2013 found that children from poor, farming families (especially in this southern tier) often serve as indispensable farm labor. These children are exposed to work-related hazards, including exposure to harmful chemicals and pesticides, using dangerous machinery and tools, carrying heavy loads, working long hours and over exposure to the elements.

The Government of Morocco has ratified all key international conventions concerning child labor, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 138 and 182 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It has also established laws and regulations related to child labor, including its worst forms. The minimum age for work the compulsory age of education are both 15 years, and the minimum age for hazardous work or voluntary military service is 18 years. The Labor Code allows children under age 15 to perform certain types of agricultural work, and children ages 16-17 to perform agricultural work at night. Local stakeholders and the ILO Committee of Experts report that the fine amounts set forth in the labor code for companies that employ children in hazardous work are inadequate to act as an effective deterrent.

The Government has established institutional mechanisms for the enforcement of laws and regulations on child labor, including its worst forms. However, enforcement remains weak due to an insufficient number of labor inspectors, systemic corruption, as well as a lack of financial resources. Current law prohibits labor inspectors from entering private farms and urban

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residences. Children, even as young as age 6, work in these spaces and are therefore not protected by current labor law.

The Promise Pathways Project3

On December 23, 2013, Creative Associates International (CA) received a four-year Cooperative Agreement worth US$ 4,998,430 from USDOL to implement a child labor elimination initiative in Morocco called Promise Pathways (PP). Creative Associates named the project Promise Pathways to reflect the intention of placing children who are engaged in or at risk of child labor in Morocco on pathways to quality education and employment in decent work. The purpose of the Cooperative Agreement is to support efforts to reduce child labor and assist youth of legal working age to secure decent work and provide household members (age 18 and older) with opportunities for improved livelihoods in rural and peri-urban areas of Morocco. The project will also improve the capacity of Morocco’s labor inspectorate to monitor and enforce labor laws in rural agricultural areas where many children and youth work, and strengthen the ability of civil society organizations to reduce child labor through service provision and advocacy.

The project is conducted in close collaboration with the Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs (MESA), the Ministry of National Education and Professional Training’s Direction of Non-formal Education (DNFE) and the Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development’s Entraide Nationale.

In response to the problem analysis identified in the Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (CMEP), Creative Associates team’s strategy for reducing child labor in Morocco is to increase community and family resilience and responsiveness. Promise Pathways is designed to nurture the development of a community-led ecosystem that builds upon existing assets, including youth, to target vulnerable children and their families. At its core, a collaborative network of organizations in a community ensures that children remain on pathways out of child labor and into education and decent work.

The main project objective of Promise Pathways is to reduce the incidence of child labor among children and youth 6-17 years old in target districts and sectors in the Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz region. The project targets the withdrawal of 823 children (ages 6-14 years) from working in farm labor, industry and services and the prevention of 3,294 at risk children from becoming engaged in such work. It also aims to withdraw 283 and prevent 1,133 youth (ages 15-17 years) from engaging in hazardous labor. It is estimated that these children and youth will come from 1,016 households and the parents of these households will be targeted for livelihood services as well in order to provide a comprehensive approach in the family.

3 Adapted from the Promise Pathways Cooperative Agreement, Project Document and CMEP

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Together with USDOL and other international and national partners, Promise Pathways has identified three main intermediate objectives (IO) that constitute the cornerstones of the project’s Theory of Change (ToC).

IO 1: Increased participation in quality education among children engaged in or at risk of child labor

IO 2: Decreased dependence on child labor for livelihoods in target households

IO 3: Contribution of institutional environment to the elimination of CL is improved

Through a school-based approach to improving the quality of education services, Promise Pathways implements child labor and school dropout prevention activities that are driven by beneficiaries and communities. Promise Pathways prevents school dropout and child labor by creating pathways to viable education and employment that are in synergy with school and educational quality improvement strategies. IO 1 will be achieved through supporting improved access and retention of children in education programs through integrated support programs to facilitate the transition of at risk students from primary to middle school. The project also promotes safe and respectful learning environments in target schools through capacity activities for community and school leaders, and works to strengthen the capacity of the non-formal education system to address children engaged in or at risk of child labor.

To reduce household dependency on child labor for subsistence, Promise Pathways works with vulnerable youth to create pathways to decent work and provide vocational training that is oriented to the job market, as well as increase awareness regarding workplace hazards and ways to protect youth. The project likewise works with vulnerable households to improve their access to social protection services and augment their livelihoods. To achieve IO 2, the project increases the access of youth to a diversified job market by supporting their access to apprenticeship programs and improves the availability of data regarding job market and economic opportunities through mapping exercises. Promise Pathways also seeks to improve access of target households to social protection programs by connecting them to social services. Finally, the project also works to increase income among target households by improving household access to income generating activities, markets, training programs, and other activities that may affect their income and livelihoods.

Promise Pathways also contributes to improving the effectiveness of actions taken by government agencies and civil society organizations by facilitating networking, synergy and collaboration in service provision as well as by improving their capacity to address child labor. In order to achieve IO 3 the project seeks to improve the capacity of relevant government agencies, including labor inspectors, child protection services, and School Watch Committees in target zones, in order to contribute to the elimination of child labor. The project also increases the capacity of civil society organizations (CSO) in advocacy and service provision, by providing trainings for local CSOs and integrated awareness, communication and outreach campaigns for target communities.

Below is the Promise Pathways Results Framework, which depicts the critical assumptions, three intermediate objectives, and supporting objectives (SO).

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Promise Pathways Results Framework

IO 1 Increased participation in quality education among children engaged in or at risk of child labor

Supporting Results: SO 1.1 Improved access and retention of children in education programs

Output 1.1.1 Children engaged in or at risk of child labor assisted by integrated support programs

SO 1.2 Improved quality of education services

Output 1.2.1 Safe and respectful learning environment in target schools Output 1.2.2 Non-formal education system with strengthened capacity to address children engaged in or at risk of child labor Output 1.2.3 Training programs for formal and non-formal education teachers available

IO 2 Decreased dependence on child labor for livelihoods in target households

Supporting Results: SO 2.1 Increased access of youth (15-17 years old) to a diversified job market

Output 2.1.1 Increased access of youth (15-17 years old) to apprenticeship programs Output 2.1.2 Increased availability of data on job market and economic opportunities in target communities

SO 2.2 Improved access of target households to social projection programs

Output 2.2.1 Target households connected to social service programs SO 2.3 Increased income among target households

Output 2.3.1 Improved integration of target households into markets Output 2.3.2 Improved livelihoods means among target households

IO 3 Contribution of Institutional environment to the elimination of CL is improved

Supporting Results: SO 3.1 Improved capacity of relevant government agencies in target zones to contribute to the elimination of child labor

Output 3.1.1 Improved capacity of labor inspectors to address child labor Output 3.1.2 Improved capacity of relevant child protection coordination structures Output 3.1.3 Improved capacity of School Watch Committees in target schools to identify and provide assistance to children at risk of school dropout Output 3.1.4 Improved coordination among CSOs, labor inspectors, local authorities and child protection units

Critical Assumptions

• Political situation in Morocco remains stable • Migration rate from rural sector remains stable • Government investment in labor inspection, education and social welfare programs remains at current levels • Morocco’s economic environment is positive and favors the development of small businesses

Project Objective: Reduction of child labor (children and youth 6-17 years old) in target districts and zones in Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz

Indicators: CL and School Attendance at Household Level: POH.1 % of beneficiary HH with at least one child engaged in child labor; POH.2 % of beneficiary HH with at least one child engaged in hazardous labor (HCL); POH.3 % of beneficiary HH with all children of compulsory school age (6-15) attending school regularly Children’s Labor Status-Related: POC.1 % of project beneficiary children engaged in CL (per sex & age); POC.2 % of project beneficiary children engaged in HCL (per sex & age)

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II. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF EVALUATION As per USDOL Management Procedure Guidelines, OCFT-funded projects are subject to external interim and final evaluations. The interim evaluation of the Promise Pathways project is due in early 2016.

Interim Evaluation Purpose and Scope

The Interim Evaluation will assess and evaluate the project’s implementation for the first two years, providing insight on what aspects are effective and determining whether the project is on track towards meeting its goals and objectives. The evaluator may also identify further points of importance during the mission that may be included in the analysis as appropriate.

The evaluation will address the following issues:

1. Assess the relevance of the project’s Theory of Change (ToC), as stated in the Promise Pathways CMEP, to the issue of child labor in Morocco and whether activities are being implemented in accordance with the project design.

2. Evaluate the project’s progress made so far, and whether it is likely to complete all activities and results as delineated in the project document. Analyze the factors that may be contributing to successes and challenges. Assess what is happening on the ground and if necessary make recommendations to ensure the project will meet the agreed-upon outcomes, goals and timeline.

3. Describe the results of the project by the date of the evaluation, at institutional and community level, and especially, on the lives of beneficiary households and children.

4. Assess the steps taken by the project to mainstream project activities and recommend actions to increase sustainability before project phase-out.

The evaluation will identify any specific implementation areas that may benefit from adjustments to ensure the project can be as successful as possible during its remaining period of performance. It should provide recommendations for enhancing achievement of project objectives and addressing limitations in order to improve the project’s ability to achieve results by the end of project.

The evaluation will also assess and make recommendations according to the extent which the project has started to take steps toward sustainability, ensuring that the project’s approaches and benefits continue after the completion of the project, including sources of funding and partnerships with other organizations. This includes the direct project partners.

The scope of the interim evaluation includes a review and assessment of all activities carried out under the USDOL Cooperative Agreement with Creative Associates. All activities that have been implemented from project launch through time of evaluation fieldwork should be considered. The evaluation should assess the achievements of the project toward reaching its targets and objectives as outlined in the Cooperative Agreement, Project Document and CMEP. The evaluation will assess the positive and negative changes produced by the project – intended and unintended, direct and

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indirect, as well as any changes in the social and economic environment in the country – as reported by respondents.

Intended Users

The intended users are OCFT, Creative Associates, its project partners, and other stakeholders working to combat child labor in Morocco and more broadly. The evaluation will provide an assessment of the project’s experience in implementation and its effects on project beneficiaries. The evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations will serve to inform any project adjustments that may need to be made, and to inform stakeholders in the design and implementation of subsequent phases or future child labor elimination projects as appropriate.

The evaluation report will be published on the USDOL website, so the report should be written as a standalone document, providing the necessary background for readers who are unfamiliar with the details of the project.

Evaluation Questions

Specific questions that the evaluation should seek to answer are found below. The evaluator may add, remove, or shift evaluation questions, but the final list will be subject to approval by USDOL.

1. What facilitating factors and barriers did the project confront regarding implementing the project baseline and starting beneficiary enrollment? What mitigating strategies did the project use in addressing these barriers?

2. Are the proposed activities appropriate for the beneficiaries given the results of the baseline assessment?

The PP Project was modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone project. This is a linkage model, where beneficiaries are linked to services provided by other organizations in the project areas meant to address a diversity of needs. Some of our questions hope to evaluate the efficacy of this model in Morocco.

3. What is the reality of this linkage model in Morocco? Please describe how this works in the PP project.

4. How has PP handled the replication of the Harlem Children’s Model? Has PP been able to adapt this model to the Moroccan environment?

5. What is the efficacy of this model in Morocco?

6. How is PP working with the schools in the project? What is the nature of PP’s relationship with the schools?

7. What education support do the PP beneficiaries receive from the project?

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8. How are children being connected to educational services? At what point are children added to the database as child beneficiaries?

9. Please describe how PP is providing livelihood services.

10. What is the value added from linking households to livelihood services?

11. Two organizations that were originally to be working with PP are not. How has PP made up for this loss? Are they effectively working with new Moroccan organizations?

12. Please conduct small sample data verification between the numbers the project has reported in TPRs and the data collected through their CMEP indicators.

13. Is the project following the monitoring procedures as described in their CMEP documents?

14. What is the nature of the project’s relationship with local civil society and government partners? Have these partners’ commitment to combatting child labor increased as a result of project efforts?

III. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY AND TIMEFRAME A. Approach

The evaluation fieldwork will be qualitative and participatory in nature and use project documents including CMEP data to provide quantitative information. Qualitative information will be obtained through field visits, interviews and focus groups as appropriate. Opinions coming from beneficiaries (teachers, parents and children) will improve and clarify the use of quantitative analysis. The participatory nature of the evaluation will contribute to the sense of ownership among beneficiaries.

Quantitative data will be drawn from project documents including the CMEP, Technical Progress Reports (TPRs) and other reports to the extent that it is available and incorporated in the analysis. As an annex, the report will also include a table showing an overview of the project progress by listing indicators, targets and achievements to date (please see example of template for this table in Annex 1 of this TOR). For those indicators where the project is experiencing challenges, a brief analysis will be included in the results.

The following principles will be applied during the evaluation process:

1. Methods of data collection and stakeholder perspectives will be triangulated for as many as possible of the evaluation questions.

2. Efforts will be made to include parents’ and children’s voices and beneficiary participation generally, using child-sensitive approaches to interviewing children following the ILO-IPEC guidelines on research with children on the worst forms of child labor

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(http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=3026) and UNICEF Principles for Ethical Reporting on Children (http://www.unicef.org/media/media_tools_guidelines.html).

3. Gender and cultural sensitivity will be integrated in the evaluation approach.

4. Consultations will incorporate a degree of flexibility to maintain a sense of ownership of the stakeholders and beneficiaries, allowing additional questions to be posed that are not included in the TOR, whilst ensuring that key information requirements are met.

5. As far as possible, a consistent approach will be followed in each project site, with adjustments made for the different actors involved, activities conducted, and the progress of implementation in each locality.

B. Interim Evaluation Team

The evaluation team will consist of:

1. The international evaluator: Aziza Chbani

One member of the project staff may accompany the team to make introductions. This person will not be involved in the evaluation process and will not attend the evaluators’ meetings or interviews with key informants.

The international evaluator will be responsible for developing the methodology in consultation with Sistemas, Familias y Sociedad (SFS), USDOL, and the project staff; assigning the tasks of the interpreter during the field work; directly conducting interviews and facilitating other data collection processes; analyzing the evaluation material gathered; presenting feedback on the initial findings of the evaluation during the national stakeholder meeting; and preparing the evaluation report.

The responsibility of the interpreter in each provincial locality is to ensure that the evaluator is understood by the stakeholders as far as possible, and that the information gathered is relayed accurately to the evaluator.

C. Evaluation Milestones

1. Document Review

Pre-field visit preparation includes extensive review of relevant documents. During fieldwork, documentation will be verified and additional documents may be collected. Documents may include:

• CMEP documents, • Baseline and endline survey reports, • Project document and revisions, • Cooperative Agreement, • Project Results Frameworks and Monitoring Plans,

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• Work plans, • Technical Progress and Status Reports, • Correspondence related to Technical Progress Reports, • Management Procedures and Guidelines, • Research or other reports undertaken by or related to the project, and • Project files (including school records) as appropriate.

2. Data Collection Matrix

Before beginning fieldwork, the evaluator will create a Data Collection Matrix, which outlines the source of data from where the evaluator plans to collect information for each Terms of Reference (TOR) question. This will help the evaluator make decisions as to how she is going to allocate her time in the field. It will also help the evaluator to ensure that she is exploring all possible avenues for data triangulation and to clearly note where the evaluation findings are coming from. The question matrix shall be forwarded by the evaluator to SFS before start of fieldwork and shared with USDOL.

3. Interviews with Stakeholders

Focus groups and/or informational interviews will be held with as many project stakeholders as possible. The evaluator will solicit the opinion of children, community members in areas where awareness-raising activities occurred, parents of beneficiaries, teachers, government representatives, legal authorities, union and NGO officials, the action program implementers, and program staff regarding the project's accomplishments, program design, sustainability, and the working relationship between project staff and their partners, where appropriate.

Depending on the circumstances, these meetings will be one-on-one or group interviews. Technically, stakeholders are all those who have an interest in a project, for example, as implementers, direct and indirect beneficiaries, community leaders, donors, and government officials. Thus, it is anticipated that conversation will be held with:

• OCFT staff responsible for this evaluation and project prior to the commencement of the field work;

• Implementers at all levels, including child labor monitors involved in assessing whether children have been effectively prevented or withdrawn from child labor situations;

• Headquarters, Country Director, Project Managers, and Field Staff of Grantee and Partner Organizations;

• Government Ministry Officials and Local Government Officials who have been involved in or are knowledgeable about the project;

• Community leaders, members, and volunteers;

• Education personnel including school teachers, assistants and school directors;

• Project beneficiaries (children withdrawn and prevented and their parents);

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• International NGOs and multilateral agencies working in the area;

• Other child protection and/or education organizations, committees and experts in the area; and

• U.S. Embassy staff member.

4. Field Visits

The evaluator will visit a selection of project sites. The final selection of field sites to be visited will be made by the evaluator. Every effort should be made to include some sites where the project experienced successes and others that encountered challenges, as well as a good cross section of sites across targeted CL sectors. During the visits, the evaluator will observe the activities and outputs developed by the project.

D. Sampling, Site Selection and Data Collection Methodology

Criteria for selecting communities, beneficiaries and other sources:

During the two-week fieldwork, the evaluator will visit six districts in which the project operates. Within each district, the evaluator will visit education intervention sites (primary, secondary, vocational training sites, apprenticeship centers, and primary teachers’ colleges. The evaluator will also visit parents. Sampling criteria are as follows:

1. Households (parents) with: working children, at least one child engaged in child labor that have children 6-17 years old, with at least one child engaged in child labor, children in hazardous labor, all children of compulsory school age (6-15) attending school regularly during the past six months;

2. Householders (parents): covered by at least one social programs as a result of project services that are successfully referred by pp for social protection assistance, reporting an increase in assets as a result of project services, that strengthen revenue generating activity as a result of project support, with access to new clients for their services and products, access to credit or other forms of microfinance, acquiring skills facilitating improvement of their productive activities, receiving livelihood services;

3. Adults provided with employment services, individuals provided with economic strengthening services, individuals provided with services other than employment or economic strengthening, adult members has participated in awareness-raising activities organized by CSO;

4. A representation of different implementing child protection structures (AREF, Delegations, Entraide Nationale, Delegation of vocational training, Chamber of artisans, NGO) in Marrakech;

5. A representation of different implementing child protection structures (Direction of Non-formal Education, Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, Ministry of National

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Education and Professional Training, Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development, National Initiative for Human Development, Entraide Nationale);

6. Key staff of Creative and its implementing partners who have key implementation responsibilities under the project;

7. In each community site visited, beneficiary children in the three target age groups will be met: 5-11, 12-14 and 15-17 years, comprising approximately equal numbers of female and male beneficiaries. The sample will include recipients of the range of project education and vocational training services and all categories in the target;

8. Representatives of provincial, district and commune local government to be interviewed will be those with whom the project directly interacts or intends to interact. At commune level, these stakeholders will include teachers and members of the project-initiated or pre-existing communities (NFE teachers, School teachers, School watch committees);

9. Time permitting, one district without children engaged in or at high risk of entering child labor.

Criteria for sampling interviewees/beneficiaries:

The evaluation will include about 5% of the total number of target children (5,533).

Chichaoua Haouz Regional/

Marrakech National

Communes 3 3 Households (parents) 30 min interview (= 2h 30) early in the morning, and 30 min for focus group

15 (5 per commune)

15 (5 per commune)

Associations involved in NFE 1 1 1 NFE teachers 3 3 1 School teachers 3 3 Labors inspectors 1 Protection coordination structures 1 School watch committees 3 3 Civil society organizations 3 3 1 1 Working children engaged in or at high risk of entering child labor 5- 11 years old Boys and girls

48 (16 per commune)

48 (16 per commune)

Working children engaged in or at high risk of entering child labor 12- 14 years old Boys and girls

48 (16 per commune)

48 (16 per commune)

Working children engaged in or at high risk of entering child labor 15 – 17-year-old Boys and girls

48 (16 per commune)

48 (16 per commune)

Children not working Boys and girls

12 (4 par commune)

12 (4 par commune)

Adult provided by project services 3 3

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Chichaoua Haouz Regional/

Marrakech National

Aid to Artisans 1

Direction of Non-formal Education 3 (1 AREF

and 2 Delegations)

1

Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs

1 1

Ministry of National Education and Professional Training

3 3

Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development

1

National Initiative for Human Development 1 1

Data collection methods:

Given the diversity of stakeholders and profiles of beneficiaries, the multiplication of methodological tools became necessary. By collecting various data through the use of different survey techniques, the risk of making mistakes, or draw inappropriate conclusions is thereby reduced. Moreover, this methodological triangulation can supplement the results obtained by the use of other investigative techniques.

The evaluator will use focus groups with beneficiaries, parents, teachers, educational coordinators and managers and heads of departments.

Data collection methods will also include semi-structured interviews with project stakeholders. Many of these interviews will be conducted with key persons responsible for implementing the project, including officials at ministries. Issues discussed will focus on all aspects of the program, from conception to execution control and monitoring, as well as on relations between the different actors involved in the implementation of the project. The interviews will be semi structured according to a guide based on specific questions and will leave a degree of freedom of expression in order to allow the expression of comment and unexpected views.

The interviews will be recorded with the agreement of the interviewee.

Case studies:

Four case studies (2 boys and 2 girls) will be conducted as individual interviews. These are the children with the project succeeded. The minutes of each interview (life story) will be available in the appendix of the report.

E. Ethical Considerations and Confidentiality

The evaluation mission will observe utmost confidentiality related to sensitive information and feedback elicited during the individual and group interviews. To mitigate bias during the data collection process and ensure a maximum freedom of expression of the implementing partners,

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stakeholders, communities, and beneficiaries, implementing partner staff will generally not be present during interviews. However, implementing partner staff may accompany the evaluator to make introductions whenever necessary, to facilitate the evaluation process, make respondents feel comfortable, and to allow the evaluator to observe the interaction between the implementing partner staff and the interviewees.

F. Stakeholders Meeting

Following the field visits, a stakeholders meeting will be conducted by the evaluator that brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the implementing partners and other interested parties. The list of participants to be invited will be drafted prior to the evaluator’s visit and confirmed in consultation with project staff during fieldwork. Stakeholders from all provinces served by the project will be invited, though it is understood that some may not be able to attend due to travel related challenges.

The meeting will be used to present the major preliminary findings and emerging issues, solicit recommendations, and obtain clarification or additional information from stakeholders, including those not interviewed earlier. The agenda of the meeting will be determined by the evaluator in consultation with project staff. Some specific questions for stakeholders may be prepared to guide the discussion and possibly a brief written feedback form.

The agenda is expected to include some of the following items:

1. Presentation by the evaluator of the preliminary main findings

2. Feedback and questions from stakeholders on the findings

3. Opportunity for implementing partners not met to present their views on progress and challenges in their locality

4. If appropriate, Possible Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) exercise on the project’s performance

5. Discussion of recommendations to improve the implementation and ensure sustainability. Consideration will be given to the value of distributing a feedback form for participants to nominate their “action priorities” for the remainder of the project.

A debrief call will be held with the evaluator and USDOL after the stakeholder workshop to provide USDOL with preliminary findings and solicit feedback as needed.

G. Limitations

Fieldwork for the evaluation will last two weeks, on average, and the evaluator will not have enough time to visit all project sites. As a result, the evaluator will not be able to take all sites into consideration when formulating their findings. All efforts will be made to ensure that the evaluator is visiting a representative sample of sites, including some that have performed well and some that have experienced challenges.

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Findings for the evaluation will be based on information collected from background documents and in interviews with stakeholders, project staff, and beneficiaries. The accuracy of the evaluation findings will be determined by the integrity of information provided to the evaluator from these sources.

Furthermore, the ability of the evaluator to determine efficiency will be limited by the amount of financial data available. A cost-efficiency analysis is not included because it would require impact data which is not available.

H. Timetable

The tentative timetable is as follows. Actual dates may be adjusted as needs arise.

Task 2015 Date(s) Evaluator submits Methodology/Sampling Plan to SFS Mon, Jan 28 Draft TOR submitted to USDOL Tues, Feb 9 Evaluator submits List of Stakeholders/Interviewees for CA feedback

Thurs, Feb 11

Input received from USDOL and CA on Draft TOR Thurs, Feb 11 TOR Finalized Fri, Feb 12 Evaluator submits Data Collection Matrix and Suggested Itinerary

Thurs, Feb 18

Logistics Call Tue, Feb 23 Cable Clearance Request sent to USDOL Tue, Feb 23 Finalize Field Itinerary and Stakeholder List for Workshop Fri, Feb 26 Contract signed by Evaluator Fri, Mar 4 Evaluator submits evaluation matrix to SFS and USDOL Mon, Mar 7 Evaluator interviews USDOL Tue, Mar 8 Fieldwork March 14-25 Stakeholders Meeting Mon, Mar 28 Post-fieldwork Debrief Call with USDOL Wed, April 6 Draft Report sent to SFS for quality review Thurs, April 14 Draft Report to USDOL and CA for 48 hour review Wed, April 20 48 Hour Comments due Fri, April 22 Draft Report sent to USDOL, CA and stakeholders for comments

Mon, April 25

Comments due to SFS Mon, May 9 Revised Report sent by Evaluator to SFS for quality review Fri, May 13 Revised Report sent to USDOL and CA Tues, May 17 Approval from USDOL to Copy Edit/Format Report Tues, May 24 Final Report sent to USDOL Tues, June 7

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IV. EXPECTED OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES Ten working days following the evaluator’s return from fieldwork, a first draft evaluation report will be submitted to SFS. The report should have the following structure and content:

I. Table of Contents

II. List of Acronyms

III. Executive Summary - providing a brief overview of the evaluation including sections IV-IX and key recommendations (5 pages)

IV. Background and Project Description, including Context (1-2 pages)

V. Evaluation Objectives and Methodology- including the list of Evaluation Questions, identifying the respective Report section where each question is answered (3-4 pages)

VI. Evaluation Findings, including answers and supporting evidence for each of the evaluation questions. (15 pages)

VII. Main Conclusions - a summary of the evaluation’s overall conclusions (1-2 pages)

VIII. Lessons Learned and Good Practices (1-2 pages)

IX. Recommendations - identifying in parentheses the stakeholder to which the recommendation is directed (1-2 pages)

• Key Recommendations – critical for successfully meeting project objectives and judgments on what changes need to be made for future programming

• Other Recommendations – as needed

X. Annexes, including but not limited to:

• An overview of project progress (see template in Annex 1 below)

• TOR

• Question Matrix

• List of documents reviewed

• List of interviews, meetings and site visits

• Stakeholder workshop agenda and participants

The total length of the report should be approximately 30 pages for the main report, excluding the executive summary and annexes.

The first draft of the report will be circulated to OCFT and CA for a 48 hour review. This initial review serves to identify and correct potentially sensitive information and/or inaccuracies before the report is released for formal, detailed comments. Then the draft report will be officially submitted to OCFT, CA, partner organizations and relevant stakeholders for a full two week review.

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Comments from stakeholders will be consolidated and incorporated into the final report as appropriate, and the evaluator will provide a response to OCFT, in the form of a comment matrix, as to why any comments might not have been incorporated.

While the substantive content of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the report shall be determined by the evaluator, the report is subject to final approval by ILAB/OCFT in terms of whether or not the report meets the conditions of the TOR. All reports, including drafts, will be written in English.

V. EVALUATION MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT SFS has contracted with Ms. Aziza Chbani to conduct this evaluation. Aziza has worked in the sectors of education, vocational training, children and youth issues, gender issues, agriculture, artisanal handicrafts and fisheries. She has a Masters in Measurement and Evaluation and thirty years of experience in research, education, training, project management and monitoring and evaluation. With regard to qualitative research her technical skills are in conducting focus groups, case studies and key informant interviews, as well as training data collectors and interviewers. Aziza also has experience in quantitative research including survey methodology, sample and questionnaire design, field data collection and processing, and data quality assessment. She is fluent in both French and Arabic.

Ms. Chbani will work with OCFT, SFS and relevant Promise Pathways staff to evaluate this project.

SFS will provide logistical and administrative support to the evaluator, including travel arrangements (e.g. purchasing plane tickets, providing per diem) and all materials needed to provide all deliverables. SFS will also be responsible for providing the management and technical oversight necessary to ensure consistency of methods and technical standards.